


FIGHT CLUB

by stormy1990



Series: Tokyo Fight Club Chronicles [1]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Johnny's Jr., KAT-TUN (Band), Kis-My-Ft2 (Band), SixTONES (Band)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Death, M/M, implied relationship: Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-04-16 19:12:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 57,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4636965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1990/pseuds/stormy1990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

In the late 1940s Japan was a difficult place to live. The country was still turned upside down through the war and making a living wasn’t that easy. Yasui Kentaro had lived a common life until war took away his family and he remained alone.  
3 years he had fought his way through Tokyo. He tried to live as honest as possible, but work wasn’t easy to find and food wasn’t just given to the ones needing it, so in the end he found himself in Tokyo’s underground world. This hidden world had many faces, dangerous ones and after he had fled from one of those places and was about to get killed, someone rescued him and introduced him to one of the most known underground worlds of Tokyo, the fight clubs.  
Kentaro stepped into the training room of the northern Tokyo fight club as Ueda, the one who had rescued him more or less by coincidence, had told him.  
There were around a dozen people training inside the big room. A few were training on the punching bags while a few others were fighting in the ring. The room was spacious and even though it looked already pretty old it had this special warm atmosphere.  
Ueda had told him to wait here for him, but he already felt all eyes on him and he wasn’t sure anymore if it was a good idea to follow him to this dangerous place. On the other hand he had nowhere else to go and if he would just step out to the streets again he would definitely get killed sooner or later.  
“Hey.”  
Kentaro flinched when out of nowhere someone clapped him on the shoulder.  
“Oh sorry I didn’t want to scare you.”  
A young blond boy smiled at him and Kentaro couldn’t but wonder how a person like him ended up in a fight club.  
“I am Taiga, nice to meet you.”  
“Kentaro.” He replied with a light bow totally confused about the boy’s bright smile. He didn’t expect to find a cheerful person like him at a place like that.  
“I guess Ueda brought you here, right?”  
Kentaro just nodded nervous, looking around once more, but looking to the ground again afraid of offending someone by looking them into the eyes.  
“Let’s get in the back and wait there.” Taiga waved at the smaller one to follow him. They passed the fighting ring and most of the people, luckily they were all busy with their training again not paying them too much attention anymore.  
“Sit down, you can wait here with me until Ueda comes back.”  
Kentaro nodded again before he sat down on a big blue mat, which was obviously the area for warming up.  
Taiga smiled at him while stretching himself and Kentaro couldn’t but realize that he seemed really athletic, but not extremely strong.  
“So you are all fighters here?” Kentaro finally dared to ask.  
“Yes, but we are not sharing the same fighting classes. There are really strong people here, but don’t worry you won’t ever have an opponent which is that much stronger than you. Except for training maybe.”  
“So how does this fighting thing work? I just heard rumors. That you are getting payed for the fights you win and that you have different fight clubs competing against each other.”  
“If you just want a rough explanation then yes, this is how it works. We have 5 fighting classes. The lowest is 1, the strongest is 5! You compete against the other club’s fighters of the same fighting class. But there is much more to it. The boss of each club has a huge prestige in the underground and if your fighters are winning a lot you can have more than just money. But you also have to be careful, because being a good fighter makes you also a target. Not that being a weak fighter wouldn’t do so either, but for that you have a protector, if you are lucky.”  
“What is a protector?”  
“If you have to worry to get targeted by the others you can make one of the stronger fighters your protector. He will watch out that you are no getting hurt.”  
“So you are telling me that everyone here has a protector?”  
“No not everyone, because having a protector is also kind of dangerous.”  
“You just lost me, you know.”  
“Without a protector you are going to get targeted by the stronger ones without them having to fear your protector to stop them, but if you have a protector it makes you even more interesting, so if your protector is not around you get targeted even more.”  
“But wouldn`t your protector punish them afterwards?”  
“The problem is that we have a golden rule here, which says that you can`t blame someone for something no one else can testify.”  
“Oh I see the problem.”  
“That`s why you really have to think carefully about if you need someone to protect you and if yes who to choose.”  
“So am I just running around pointing at people and ask them if they want to protect me?”  
Taiga escaped a small chuckle on that、but sure Kentaro wouldn`t know about the ways in the fight club.  
“They choose you, but you can of course refuse. Normally they will tell you their price and you decide after that.”  
“Wait, that means when no one chooses me I have to get through this on my own?”  
Taiga bit his lip looking at him apologizing and Kentaro knew right away that this could get even worse than he had expected.  
“Do you have a protector?”  
“Yes I do, as you can see I am not really what you could tell one of the strongest here. But in my fighting class I gain a lot of money, because people find my fighting style interesting and bet much money on me.”  
“Please tell me that we are not in the same class then!”  
Taiga chuckled again, clapping Kentaro on the shoulder comforting.  
“Even if, it wouldn`t matter, because if we fight against each other than just for training, so don’t worry.”  
Kentaro looked around the training room and he could already feel a few eyes on him again, dangerous eyes and he hugged himself as a shiver went down his back.  
“I am not sure if I really want to know, but as you said we would need protection, what exactly did you mean, you know-“ He left the sentence open, knowing that Taiga got what he wanted to know, but the latter’s look told him already that his guess was right.  
“As I said, it depends on the person. A few are just enjoying it to humiliate the younger and weaker ones by beating them up, but others are doing it in another way.” Taiga knew that he didn`t have to say it out loud, Kentaro`s pale face showed him that he already understood. “But just as a warning, if forced or not this is an absolute no-go in the fight clubs, remember that!”  
Kentaro nodded slowly stopping himself to ask more specific questions as he realized that Taiga felt as uncomfortable as him to speak about it.  
"So who do I have to be careful of?"  
"That depends on how you behave and if you choose a protector."  
"So what is about the people who are gathered here?"  
"You see the blond guy over there trying to play cool?"  
Kentaro looked over to a boy which obviously tried to rip the punching bag from the chains.  
"I wouldn't want to be his opponent to be honest."  
"Trust me you really don't want to, Fuma is strong, he is in the 4th fighting class and can be really outrageous, so it is better to have a good start with him. He won't be a protector, but having him as a friend is good enough."  
"So anyone here you could advise me as a protector?"  
Taiga looked around the hall, but his look told Kentaro that it was definitely not easy for him to find someone to protect him and he was already sure that he would need someone.  
"Mh, maybe Tegoshi or Senga. Senga is in the highest fighting class, but you won't have any money left from your fights, if you choose him, because he chooses money as his payment."  
"And Tegoshi?"  
"To be honest I have no clue, because he never was a protector and even though he looks not so strong he is an awesome fighter and just changed from the 2nd fighting class, which is mine by the way to the 3rd one and he also has an awesome personality, so if he asks you say yes!"  
Kentaro nodded looking through the room as someone else entered it and two other fighters stepped out of his way immediately."  
"Who is that?"  
"Bad company."  
"Means as much as never stay alone in a room with him?"  
"He doesn't even care if someone else is around or not, he will beat you up before you even have the chance to say anything to offend him, a single look is enough."  
Kentaro looked at him while he walked over to Senga clapping him on the shoulder so he would step behind the punching bag to hold it for him.  
"He seems fine with Senga at least."  
"Because Senga won against him once, since then he never lost a fight again."  
"Didn't you say we wouldn't be fighting against each other officially?"  
"Nikaido was in another fight club before, but came here after he lost against Senga!"  
"Why and especially how?"  
"He always wanted to be the strongest and he knew that when he wanted to win against someone better than him he had to go through the same training and he was lucky because our boss paid for him and like this he could change the club. Somehow our boss got really interested in him and now he is our best fighter. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mean that he is a bad person when I said he is bad company. But I guess you will figure that out after a while yourself."  
Kentaro knew that no one was free to join whichever club he wanted, he was also rescued by Ueda and brought here. The boss would decide if it was okay for him to enter and even though he wasn't a good fighter he would be happy if he was allowed to, because he had absolutely nowhere else go anymore.  
"To get back to the topic, just stay away from him."  
Kentaro nodded as the door opened again and Ueda walked in together with Nakai, the boss of this fight club. Everyone stopped their training and Taiga signaled Kentaro to stand up.  
"Good morning everyone, I hope you a prepared for the big tournament tomorrow. Don't train too much, eat well and have a good long sleep tonight." Nakai's bright smile and his words made Kentaro feel a little bit like he was played. "And he is really the boss? He seems like an over motivated baseball coach to me." Kentaro whispered into Taiga's ear, but he got a low chuckle in return.  
"Don't get fooled! Sure he has a weird attitude, but he can be a dangerous person so never make him your enemy or it will be the last thing you will ever do."  
Kentaro gulped nervously and then his eyes met Nakai's and even though he would have liked to look away he couldn't. Nakai kept staring at him for a moment before he smiled briefly and turned to face Ueda.  
"Tatsuya, be so kind and take a look at them, because I have to leave for today. Also test our new rookie, would you." Nakai clapped Ueda on the shoulder and left the room.  
Kentaro looked at Taiga and the latter’s smile showed him that he understood right, Nakai had allowed him to enter, even though he was confused that he had decided that just by looking at him.  
"Don't even wait for me to give you any kind of speech as he did! I know your fighting skills the best, so I hope you will not disgrace our club tomorrow. Back to training." Everyone bowed towards him and concentrated on their training again.  
"Is Ueda also something like a boss?"  
"He is our trainer, but he has the opposite personality from Nakai. He seems really strict in the beginning, but when you know him better you will see that he is actually a nice guy, as long as you don't piss him off."  
"I won't, trust me! He saved me and brought me here, I have no reason to pick a fight with him. By the way can the boss or the trainer also be a protector?"  
"The boss is not possible, but the trainer, yes. Problem is that most protectors are just protecting one person and Ueda already protects someone."  
"Who is he protecting?"  
"The person standing next to you."  
"WHAT?" Kentaro shut himself up as he realized that his voice has been way too loud.  
"How about you train your muscles instead of your mouth?"  
Kentaro looked up and of course no other than Ueda was standing in front of him.  
"We were just getting ready." Taiga said serious making Kentaro stare at him, because he thought his attitude towards his protector would be not that professional and strict, but it seemed that for the training their relation didn't matter.  
"Then let's test what our new recruit can do." Ueda gave him a dangerous smile and waved him over to the ring. Luckily Taiga was following him, but when they stopped Ueda looked through the room before a lopsided smile appeared on his face making Kentaro shiver.  
"Hokuto, come over here."  
Before Kentaro could even look at Taiga to ask him, if this was a bad opponent, Taiga had reached out for Ueda's arm.  
"Are you serious? Do you want him to end up in the med room for a week after his first day?”  
Ueda gave him a look which was hard to interpret for Kentaro. He wasn't sure if he was angry at him for interfering, but Taiga let go of his arm again sighing before turning towards Kentaro.  
“What is the med room?” Kentaro asked worried not sure if he really wanted to know.  
“It is our infirmary, we have a pretty awesome doc, but I hope you won’t have to meet him that early. Be fast then you might have a chance of not getting knocked out!"  
"Oh great, that's really encouraging you know." Kentaro looked over to Hokuto who approached Ueda and took the gloves out if his hand before he faced Kentaro with a dangerous smile.  
"Don't get scared by him, he is a player. He knows that his aura can scare you even before you are in the ring."  
Taiga gave Kentaro his gloves, but Kentaro was not really happy about feeling how thin they were. Those were no boxing gloves, but more like light protectors.  
"What are the rules?"  
"Stay inside the ring and don't get knocked out or you will lose and trust me you don't want to show the others that you are scared, because they will target you even more if you do."  
"I'm not scared!"  
Taiga raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't reply anything, because he could honestly not say if he was bluffing or not.  
"Anyways, Hokuto is strong, if he hits direct you will lose. You can use whichever fighting style you like. We have boxers, martial art fighters and a lot of other styles. So use whatever technique you know."  
"But I guess I am not allowed to kick him you know where."  
"Let's say there is no rule against it, but everyone would take it personally so better avoid that." Taiga said with an encouraging smile before holding the ropes apart so Kentaro could enter the ring. Hokuto was already waiting for him, but even though Kentaro knew that he had almost no fighting experience he wasn't afraid. He felt tense and a little bit worried, but not scared, even though he asked himself if it wouldn’t be better to be at least a little bit scared.  
"Okay, I don't want you to kill each other. Hokuto you have a fight tomorrow so don't get too over excited."  
"Don't worry, this will be over before I get even exhausted." Hokuto smiled at Kentaro again, but the older one looked behind him realizing that a few had stopped their training to watch their fight. Just Fuma, Senga and Nikaido seemed completely concentrated on their own training.  
"Kentaro, ready?" Ueda asked when they were both standing in the middle of the ring. He gave him a nod raising his fists.  
"Then start." Ueda wasn't standing in the ring, he was watching from the side. Without rules there was no one needed inside the ring to keep the order.  
Hokuto had lunged out for a punch the moment Ueda had given them the signal, but as his fist went into nothing his look changed from excited to perplex for a moment. But he realized that Kentaro had ducked away under his arm right away and didn't give him the time to attack as he kicked him against the rips and Kentaro fell to the ground gasping.  
"Oh sorry was that too hard?" Hokuto asked ironic, but Kentaro just got up again not taking his eyes off him.  
The next attack was the same, a punch, then a kick, but this time he avoided both and found an opening to attack, but just before his fist reached Hokuto's cheek the latter had grabbed his wrist throwing him over his shoulder.  
"You really thought it would be that easy?" Hokuto asked standing over him facing him triumphing and as Kentaro looked to the side for a brief moment blinking away the stars in front of his eyes he saw how Fuma had stopped his training and looked at them with his arms crossed in front of his chest, while Nikaido was the only one who didn't pay attention. Kentaro couldn't explain why, but it made him angry.  
"Do you already give u-"  
Kentaro grabbed Hokuto's leg so that he lost balance. He used his distraction to move away under him and give him a really hard kick into the stomach from the ground while lifting himself up with his hands in a spectacular way which made Taiga clap his hands and Ueda nod appreciating.  
Hokuto gasped and let himself drop against the ropes for a moment.  
"Having trouble? Didn't you say you would finish him easily?" Ueda asked kind of amused, but Kentaro wouldn't let his guard down. He had pissed off the boy, he could see that and when Hokuto rushed forward cursing Kentaro had barely time to escape his attacks. But Taiga was right, Hokuto was strong, but if Kentaro would be faster he could win, maybe.  
"Stop running away!" Hokuto shouted at him and he finally hit one kick against Kentaro's shoulder and even though he rose his arms up in protection the force threw him to the ground again, but he wouldn't let Hokuto approach again, so he rolled over even though it hurt a lot and landed perfectly safe on his feet again.  
"Keep going, you can do it." Taiga encouraged him from the side, but Kentaro wasn't so sure of it anymore. He had never been fighting like this before so he wasn't sure for how long he could keep it up. Then again his look went to Nikaido and when their eyes locked he was more than surprised. He had rally stopped his training now watching their fight.  
"Where are you looking?" Hokuto yelled as he lunged out again and the moment Kentaro tried to dodge Hokuto’s punch he moved down to sweep Kentaro’s feet away so he landed on his back, but Hokuto had not calculated that Kentaro could easily lift himself up out this position again stretching out his legs lifting his whole body up again with a fast movement. He didn’t hesitate a second as he was in Hokuto's reach again, so this time it was Hokuto which couldn't react in time as he got a straight punch in the face taking him in full surprise and off his feet.  
"Okay that was a surprise." Ueda said with a light smile and Taiga nodded approving.  
Again Kentaro's eyes wandered towards Nikaido. He didn't know why, but even though Taiga had told him that he was dangerous there was something that caught his interest. Was it his arrogant behavior? The fact that he didn't pay attention to him in the beginning while everyone else did? He wasn't sure, but something caught his eye and he wasn't sure if he could do as Taiga told him, even though it could get dangerous if he wouldn’t stay away from him.  
"You little asshole, you're going to pay for this." Hokuto was back on his feet, but before he could reach out for Kentaro Ueda had stepped inside the ring. He didn't have to say anything, alone the fact that he had stepped in signalized Hokuto that the fight was over. With a last dangerous glare and a growl he left the ring and a few others were teasing him about having trouble with a newbie. Fuma patted him on the shoulder comforting looking at Kentaro with a weird smile, it seemed kind of dangerous, but on the other hand as if he would be really interested in him.  
"Are you okay?" Taiga stepped into the ring next to Ueda scanning Kentaro with worried eyes.  
"I guess, more or less at least."  
"Did you fight before?" Ueda asked curious, but Kentaro shook his head. "Then how come that you can move like this? Hokuto is in the 3rd class, he is not an easy opponent!"  
Kentaro blushed because of course he had an explanation, but it was something that wouldn't suit his surroundings, so for a moment he thought about lying, but they would find out anyways he figured.  
"I am a dancer or more I was one before."  
"A dancer?" Ueda asked again and Kentaro nodded gaining a supporting clap on his shoulder from him. "Seems like you just added an interesting fighting style to our club."  
Ueda nodded towards Taiga before he left the ring and again Kentaro looked through the room, but everyone had already returned back to their own training, even Nikaido was back at the punching bags like he would have never reacted on Kentaro's fight. But Taiga was already dragging him away from everyone again before he could do something stupid like approaching Nikaido even though he didn't know himself why he would do that.  
"You should get your wounds treated at the med room and then we meet up after the training, okay?" Kentaro nodded and left the room after Taiga had told him where to go. He had come to a dangerous place, he knew that. But there were also interesting people and new opportunities waiting for him here and the most important thing: he had nothing to lose anymore anyways!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

Kentaro found himself next to Taiga the next evening as their tournament started. Luckily he wouldn't have to fight so soon Ueda had told him, but Taiga had to. Ueda's expression was like stone while Nikaido, Senga and a few others were fighting in their class and even when Hokuto lost his fight his look didn't change, but when it was Taiga's turn he seemed restless and shifted from one foot to the other all the time making it hard for Kentaro to stay calm himself.

The huge hall had a ring in the middle and the "customers" as they called them, because they were betting a lot of money on them, were sitting around it. But it was not like a normal box fight, since they didn’t have real gloves or protectors and no official rules. The ring had no ropes and its floor was out of stone. The customers were sitting at tables around it on something like a second floor from which they could observe everything from a safe distance. If you would get pushed out the ring or get knocked out you lost, that it was Taiga had explained. But getting pushed out of the ring or even leaving it on your own was a huge disgrace for the club and because the ring was almost double of the size of a normal box ring the possibility to lose that way was small. On the other hand winning through a knock out was quite dangerous. If the opponent would still be conscious, but on the ground and none of the bosses of either of the two competing clubs would end the fight there was a possibility of one of the fighters dying. But Kentaro didn’t want to think about that outcome too much, he felt nauseous enough already.

He had already realized that a few of the customers had pointed at him obviously wanting to know who he was, but Ueda had told him that he would get introduced officially before he would have his first fight.

"Taiga, long time no see. How is your arm? When I remember correctly I broke it last time." An unknown voice asked laughing and Kentaro finally focused on Taiga again as his opponent had stepped into the ring as well.

"Thank you for your worries Myuto, but it is completely healed."

"Then maybe I should break a leg this time or how about your beautiful nose?"

Both were chuckling like they were old friends instead of opponents, but before Kentaro could even ask Ueda anything about Myuto, Nakai stepped inside the ring to introduce them to the customers as always. If they wanted to bet this would be their last chance.

Kentaro could see what Taiga was talking about before as he said people were interested in his fighting style as many of the customers seemed to bet on their fight and couldn’t wait for them to start.

“Will he be alright?” Kentaro asked Ueda as Nakai stepped out the ring and gave them the start signal.

“We will see.” His voice sounded cold, but Kentaro could see that he had to try hard to not let his worries show. Kentaro still didn’t know anything about all the fighting club rules or the protectors, but he could feel that at least Ueda took his role as a protector quite serious, maybe more than he should.

“Come on, I give you the first punch!” Myuto said with a smile standing totally open waiting for Taiga to attack.

“Oh how noble of you.” Taiga replied teasing, but took the invitation anyways knowing that it wouldn’t matter who would attack first.

Everything happened so fast that Kentaro couldn’t even follow their movements. Instead of the straight and kind of violent fighting style of the fighters before those two were way more graceful while fighting. Sure they punched and kicked as hard and serious as the others Kentaro could see that, but the way they moved was just so different. It reminded him of his dancing and maybe this could help him as well when he would have his first real fight. Against Hokuto it had helped him a lot and seeing that Taiga used a similar technique gave him hope that he could really stand a chance in this new environment.

“Stupid boy!” Kentaro was so lost in his thoughts for a moment that he had lost track of the fight until Ueda spoke up next to him. As he looked back at the ring he saw how Taiga had lost balance obviously while trying to dodge one of Myuto’s attacks and his opponent took his opening and span around in the air kicking him with so much force against the neck that it lifted him off his feet and slammed him down on the hard stone floor.

Ueda had clenched his fists and Kentaro could see how he tried to stay calm, but there was no doubt that he would love to run into the ring and punch Myuto, but as their trainer he had to stay focused, so even though he was a protector he wasn’t allowed to interfere in any official fight.

 “Oh sorry, was that a little bit too hard?” Myuto asked still smiling, but Taiga just got up again moving his head from one side to the other once before smiling back.

“It’s not broken, so I guess you got weaker.”

Kentaro just shook his head at those two, they were fighting so serious, but were still smiling like it would be a joke.

Again Taiga was the one who attacked first and this time he attacked fast and hit a few really good punches, but something seemed off and after he had tried to land a kick on Myuto’s rips, the latter had grabbed his leg.

“TAIGA!” Kentaro had screamed out for him before he could stop himself, but he knew what Myuto was planning and if Taiga wouldn’t react in time he would break his leg. Kentaro could tell that Myuto’s kick from before had shown more effect than Taiga would let show. He obviously felt dizzy and tried to end the fight fast, but like this he got careless and brought himself into an even worse position.

But all his worries were unnecessary as Taiga jumped up and span around his own leg so that he could hit Myuto perfectly against the head. They both went to the ground, but Taiga was fast enough to stop his fall with his arms as Myuto let go of his leg and crushed into the floor unconsciously.

A few customers seemed angry, but most of them were cheering, showing that they were almost all betting on Taiga.

“The same idiotic behavior as always!” Ueda hissed through his teeth. “Showing off again.”

“Didn’t he almost lose?” Kentaro asked confused.

“Trust me it looks different when he is about to lose. He just loves it too much to make the customers worry, he is more of an entertainer than a fighter. He will never take this as serious as I would like him to.” Ueda faced Kentaro, but looked away as he realized that he had already said too much. But Kentaro was happy about Ueda being so open. It made him realize that what Taiga had said about Ueda seeming cold at first, but having a carrying side as well was actually true.

“How was I?” Proud Taiga walked to the side of the ring smiling at Kentaro.

“Stupid as always!” Ueda replied slapping him on the back of his head.

“Ow, that hurt.”

“Oh really, then how about this?” Ueda grabbed Taiga’s neck on the side and squeezed it. Taiga let out a painful gasp slapping away his hand.

“Yes that also hurts, thanks for reminding me!”

“Kentaro would you bring him to the med room? I still have to observe the last two fights.”

Kentaro nodded as Ueda and Taiga gave each other some kind of death glare. He took Taiga’s arm and dragged him away from the ring feeling kind of uncomfortable with those two behaving like this.

“You two are really acting weird around each other.” Kentaro finally said as the doctor had left them alone in the med room after treating Taiga’s shoulder.

“Who do you mean? Myuto or Ueda?”

“Both actually! One moment I have the feeling you two are something like best friends and then you stare at each other like you would rip each other apart and that applies for both.”

Taiga smiled on his statement confusing him even more.

“Regarding Myuto it is easy to explain. Even if it sounds stupid you get fond of your opponents in a special way when you face them more often. You will experience that as well trust me.”

“I’m not really sure if that will really happen, but okay I got your point, but what about Ueda?”

“Did you observe Ueda while the others were fighting? How did he appear to you?”

“To be honest, like a stone.”

“Exactly! But he is a human like we all are! But he is our trainer and not allowed to let personal matters get him distracted from his work. But with me it is different, because he receives his payment from me.”

“What does receiving money has to do with his behavior?”

“His payment isn’t money.”

Kentaro raised an eyebrow signalizing him that he had lost track of the conversation.

“I had told you that they all have their price, right? Senga is taking money, but there are other ways as well.”

“And Ueda’s price is exactly what?”

“Talking and listening.”

Again Kentaro didn’t reply anything. For a moment he thought that Taiga was making fun out of him, but his expression showed that he was serious.

“Ueda has so many worries, but he can’t let them show. So I am sometimes going to his room and stay the night with him-“

Kentaro opened his mouth, but Taiga lifted his hand to shut him up.

“No, not what you think! Yes I am sleeping in his bed together with him, but we are just talking. Or more like he is talking and I am listening. Oh, but don’t dare to tell him or anyone else that I told you this, I am just telling you, because I trust you, okay? The rules of the club forbid it to enter someone else’s room, but because Nakai and Ueda are the only ones which are observing if the rules are being followed I can enter without a problem when Nakai isn’t around and as the boss he isn’t really often coming to the dorms.”

“I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry.” Kentaro had a lot more questions, but he knew they had to wait at least until the end of the tournament. “You should rest for now I will come back when the tournament is over and tell you how everything went. But you know that I will drill you with questions about Ueda and this payment thing later, right?”

“Are you sure that you want to know?” Taiga asked with an amused expression, but Kentaro just rolled his eyes at him chuckling before he left the room.

He could tell that there was still something else to Taiga’s and Ueda’s relationship, but he would have enough time to ask Taiga about it later. For now he tried to concentrate on the tournament. Ueda had told him earlier to observe as many fights as possible so he started running towards the tournament hall, but bumped into someone as he turned around a corner.

“Sorry-“

Before he could even end his sentence the other one slammed him against the wall making him gasp. As he looked up he realized that it was one of their fighters, which had fought in the tournament after Taiga and judging to his bruised face and his mood he had lost. He seemed still kind of pissed, but Kentaro didn’t really get what that had to do with him.

“Newbie, don’t you want to apologize?”

“I just said sorry-“

“Oh you think a sorry will make it?”

“I just bumped into you lightly, it is not like I hurt you-“

The latter grabbed him by the hair slamming his head against the wall making him breath in sharp and Kentaro finally understood what Taiga meant with some fighters were really bad company.

“Getting cocky on your first day already?”

Kentaro was not in the mood for such a stupid fight so he tried to solve this quietly, but just words would definitely not calm him down. But he didn’t want to get into trouble with his own people on the first tournament already.

“Would you please just let go for now, you are hurting me!”

Of course the other one just laughed at his statement and as Kentaro tried to move to the side the latter slammed his shoulder back against the wall.

“You think this hurts? Shall I show you what pain is?”

Kentaro was too shocked to react as the other one lunged out. He could see that he was serious about to punch him, so he just shut his eyes and waited for his fist to collide with his cheekbone, but when nothing happened he opened his eyes again right in time to see how the other one went pale in the matter of seconds as he looked towards the person standing next to him, which had stopped his arm just in time before it hit Kentaro’s cheek and this person was no other than Nikaido.

“Maybe you should get out of my sight before I get really pissed.” Nikaido said in a low husky voice and it didn’t take the other one more than the blink of an eye to vanish into the next corridor.

Kentaro was still way too perplex to get what had just happened as Nikaido passed by about to enter the training room.

“Thank you!” Kentaro said with a shaking voice before Nikaido could open the door. He turned around to Kentaro, which froze to the spot as he approached him with two big steps and stopped right in front of him.

“Don’t think that I did this for you. I just don’t like it when weak guys like him try to act all high and mighty!” He was about to turn away, but turned back again looking Kentaro straight in the eyes. The younger one didn’t even dare to look away totally taken in by Nikaido’s strong and kind of intimidating presence. “As for you, I also don’t like weak guys, which don’t defend themselves! You are not a puppet so how about you fight back next time instead of giving up right from the beginning!?”

With that he stepped inside the training room leaving Kentaro behind in a state between astonishment and something that he couldn’t really define, was it anger?

***

Kentaro was already breathing hard, sweat dropping from his face to the ground, but he kept hitting the punching bag nevertheless.

"Kentaro, wouldn't it better to take a break?" Taiga, who had held the bag for him, finally asked. The tournament was just two days ago and he was still not allowed to train, because of his injury so he helped Kentaro with his training.

The day before they had something like a day off, but Kentaro couldn't calm down and was more than happy to be able to let his anger out at the punching bag today.

"No, I don't need a break." Kentaro said as he kicked the bag again, this time so hard that Taiga was forced to make a step back.

"Okay then let's say I need a break okay?"

Kentaro growled, but finally sat down as Taiga also let himself drop to the floor.

"Did something happen?" Taiga finally asked, but Kentaro bit his lip facing the ground instead of answering.

"You can tell me, you know? And at the moment it is just good guys training here, so don't worry about saying something wrong."

Kentaro looked over his shoulder and saw Tegoshi in the ring together with Ueda and Fuma and Hokuto training on the punishing bags on the opposite wall.

"At least he isn't here." Kentaro hissed between his teeth.

"Who?"

"Nikaido."

"Did he do something?" Taiga asked already alarmed crawling a little bit towards him so that they could speak in a low voice.

"Not directly, it was someone else who tried to do something and then Nikaido came and helped me out."

Taiga blinked and looked at him as if he would tell him a fairytale.

"I know, I was surprised myself. But when I thanked him he told me that he hates it when weak guys like me don't defend themselves and I should try to get out of it myself next time. I don't know why, but his behavior just pissed me off so much."

Taiga chuckled and nodded slowly knowing how he must feel, but on the other hand he could be so lucky that Nikaido even helped him.

"As I told you Nikaido isn’t really one of the bad guys, but this one even surprises me. Then maybe we should train a little bit more, so you can calm down." Taiga said encouraging, but when they got up the door opened and Nikaido and Senga stepped in.

"Perfect timing." Ueda said as he told Tegoshi to have a break. “Senga, would you come here for a moment?" Ueda turned around to Kentaro and pointed at him. "You as well."

Taiga gave him a worried look from the side, but Kentaro didn't really mind. Whatever kind of training he had planned Kentaro could use it at the moment. As he stepped into the ring he looked over to Nikaido, but he had already went to the warming up area grabbing his gloves.

"I want to test out how your fighting style is working against a strong opponent like Senga." Ueda explained and Kentaro just nodded getting his gloves from Taiga who was waiting for him at the side of the ring.

"Don't be afraid I won't hurt you, at least not bad." Senga said with a smile, but Kentaro knew how strong he was. He had won against Nikaido once and he had seen both their fights before. He had to be careful if he didn't want to get knocked out right away.

They met in the middle of the ring again and as Ueda gave them the start signal it was to everyone's surprise Kentaro who attacked first. He tried to kick Senga against the ribs, but he blocked it so that Kentaro spun around fast to try hitting a punch with the back of his fist towards his face, but he blocked that one as well and because he was standing with his back towards him he had to jump away knowing that Senga could attack easily like this.

"He got some spirit." Senga said towards Ueda while Kentaro looked over to Nikaido again who totally ignored their fight and it made him so angry that he rushed forward again imagining that it wouldn’t be Senga, but Nikaido he would fight.

This time Senga blocked his attack and tried to counter with a punch, but Kentaro was faster ducking away under it with an amazing speed and moving gracefully around him so that he could attack from the side and this time Senga wasn't fast enough as Kentaro jumped up and kicked him against the shoulder from behind. The kick wasn't too hard and all that happened was Senga making a few steps forward before turning around to him with an impressed nod.

"You are a really surprising little fellow."

But it seemed like Nikaido wasn't really thinking like that, because he had walked over to the punching bags without any kind of reaction.

"My turn." Senga rushed forward and Kentaro cursed himself for getting distracted, because he had no time left to dodge Senga's punch. He gasped as it hit in his stomach and he fell to his knees right away.

"But you have to learn to take more hits." Senga said kind of satisfied.

Kentaro thought about just remaining on the ground until Ueda would say it was enough, but then he met Nikaido's eyes and freaked. Nikaido looked at him with such a mocking smile that Kentaro started screaming as he got back on his feet ignoring the pain. He wouldn't let this guy make fun out of him right from the beginning. He knew nothing about his past or his personality and he wouldn't let him destroy his chances here.

Instead if attacking from the front Kentaro tried to kick away Senga's legs knowing that Senga would be prepared to dodge it. But the moment he jumped to the side Kentaro span around on his hands to kick upwards and hit Senga in the stomach so that he bend over and as he did Kentaro jumped up from the ground and kicked him under the chin while he moved his body into a back flip like it would be the easiest thing in the world. While Senga landed on the ground, Kentaro had landed on his feet without problems.

"Wow, that was awesome." Taiga shouted from the side cheering for Kentaro. Senga tried to get up again, but he obviously felt dizzy.

"Okay I guess I got the information I needed, thank you." Ueda stepped between them as Senga got up again with an angry expression. "And Senga, don't you dare to be a bad loser, okay!" Ueda warned him pushing him back as he wanted to walk past him and Senga obviously got the message as he stepped back and left the ring growling dangerously.

But that was not what mattered to Kentaro, instead he looked over to Nikaido again and now it was his turn to smile as his expression had went from mocking to astonished.

All his anger from before was replaced by some kind of satisfaction. He couldn't explain why, but it felt like teaching Nikaido a lesson and it felt good.

After the training Kentaro still kept his smile as he went back to his room, but when he was about to enter someone slammed his hand against the door with so much force that he jumped to the side. It was Senga and his look told him that he was more than pissed off through their fight.

“And you really want to tell me that you never fought before?”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh come on, those moves are not from an amateur. Where did you fight before?”

“I really didn’t. As I told Ueda before I was a dancer, so those “moves” as you call them come from that experience.”

Senga let out a sarcastic laughter before he grabbed him by the collar.

“A dancer? You want to tell me that I got beaten up by a dancer? Stop lying!”

“I am not! Let go!” Kentaro grabbed Senga’s wrists and tried to make him let go, but Senga shoved him against the wall with so much force that Kentaro gasped as the back of his head collided with the hard stone.

“And here we have a witness so how about you let go of him?”

They both turned towards Fuma who had shown up at the corner of the corridor leaning against the wall.

“Get lost Fuma, this has nothing to do with you.”

“And either does it with you! Don’t get so pissed just because you had to take a few hits from him.”

Senga let go of Kentaro and walked over to Fuma, but instead of saying anything else he just gave him a death glare before he left around the corner.

“You should always keep someone around you know.” Fuma said as he approached Kentaro who was looking at him doubting not sure if he should thank him or if he would end up in the next bad situation right away.

“That’s not that easy with just Taiga on my side and I can’t drag him with me all the time.”

“Then how about a protector?”

Kentaro raised an eyebrow on his statement, but Fuma started laughing clapping him on the shoulder. “Not me though! Don’t get this wrong, I have better things to do than running after someone to protect him.”

“But you just helped me.”

“That was just because I think you are an interesting guy and also because Senga always freaks too easily anyways.” Fuma clapped him on the shoulder once more before he walked away again giving him a brief smile. So that meant he had Fuma on his side as well or at least that was what he hoped, because he was still not sure who to trust, because all their behaviors were just so hard to interpret, especially Nikaido’s.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

The next days passed without any kind of problems and having Fuma and Taiga at his side Kentaro felt already like he didn't need a protector. Fuma was not doing more than waving a small `hi´ or training a few things with him, but it was already enough to make most of the other fighters keep their distance.

Taiga was finally allowed to train again and he tried to teach Kentaro a few tricks for his fast fighting style, because they were alike.

"Can we take a break, please?" Kentaro begged resting his hands on his knees while Taiga was still jumping around like they wouldn't be training for hours already.

"A few days ago you couldn't get enough training, where is that energy?"

"Not in this room at the moment." Kentaro answered before thinking and he could see how Taiga's lips curled upwards into a teasing smile.

"You are the first one who has such an interest in Nikaido." He said laughing clapping him on the shoulder.

"Who said I was talking about him?"

"Oh come one, as if I wouldn't see the change of your behavior each time he enters the room."

Kentaro flicked his tongue, but he knew that he was right. Nikaido pissed him off a lot without doing anything in the first place, but he also looked at him all the time and it made Kentaro even angrier, if he wanted to tell him again that he was still too weak and that he didn’t like him then he should just do so.

"Anyways, how about we call it a day, you look really exhausted."

"I like your ideas." Kentaro said really happy about this suggestion as they both stepped out the ring and were about to leave the training room as two boys stepped in front of them.

Taiga grabbed Kentaro's arm stopping him forcefully. First Kentaro wanted to scold him, but as he looked at him he could see panic in Taiga’s eyes for the first time since he entered the club. He needed a moment to get why he reacted like this, but when he looked through the room he realized that they were alone with them. Two on both sides, so no person to testify.

"Oh what is it Taiga, you look like you've seen a ghost. Did you by any chance forget that Ueda is out for scouting the next days?"

Taiga hadn't told Kentaro anything about it even though they were together the whole time and then he realized that he was maybe at fault for that, because Taiga focused on Kentaro’s training way too much.

"Would you just let us pass, we are not here to pick a fight with you." Kentaro spoke up stepping in front of Taiga, who had went pale in the matter of seconds. Kentaro didn’t really know if something happened between them and Taiga before, but they looked exactly like this type of fighters which enjoyed it to humiliate their kohais and Taiga’s reaction showed him that they were definitely in a higher fighting class than they were.

"Oh aren't you cute. Our little ballerina wants us to leave them alone."

One of them stepped closer making Kentaro take a step backwards pushing Taiga back with him.

"What, are you afraid?" Now the other one stepped forward as well and as they stood almost left and right from Kentaro they both jumped forward attacking Kentaro who pushed Taiga away even though he knew that he couldn't win against both alone.

He blocked their first attacks and dodged a few kicks, but then one of them got a grip on him and the other one took a small run up obviously about to kick him when Taiga interfered and made him fly through the room several meters to Kentaro's astonishment.

"Cut the crap out, would you? We have better things to do than waste our time with idiots like you." He shouted at both of them and Kentaro used the other one's distraction to twist himself out of his grip and kick him away.

"You are going to regret this kick." The one Taiga had kicked away hissed as he got up again.

This time they attacked so fast that Kentaro couldn't even dodge anymore and after he had somehow blocked a kick he almost lost balance so that he couldn’t block the punch which followed and which hit him on the throat with so much force that he lost orientation and fell on his knees unable to breath. He heard Taiga screaming out for him and he saw how both of them attacked him, now that he couldn't help anymore. He wanted to get up, but he couldn't, he couldn't even breath. He tried hard not to panic as he couldn't fill his lungs with air.

"Kentaro, get up!”

Kentaro heard Taiga's panicked voice and he saw how they finally got a grip on him and started beating him up, but he still couldn't stand up and tears filled his eyes, tears of anger and then he recalled Nikaido’s words, that he should defend himself and not give up right from the beginning, but he tried didn't he? It made him even angrier and he screamed out even though it felt like he would rip apart his lungs. He felt like blacking out as he rose up, but he screamed at his body to move and rushed forward to attack them, punching and kicking wild around. Through his lack of air his vision was blurry and he wasn't even sure if he was aiming right, but at least the effect was what he aimed for. They let go of Taiga who was already lying on the ground.

"Tough boy, aren't you?" One of them said as Kentaro was unable to attack them anymore as he was completely out of air, but before he could faint one of them hold him up and the other one grabbed him by the hair.

"If you want to fight for your friend so badly then how about you take the hits for him?"

Both were laughing at him, but this time Kentaro didn't close his eyes as the one in front of him lunged out for a punch, instead he tried to struggle again even though he knew he wouldn't make it, but without any kind of warning his opponent in front of him found himself on the ground so fast that he wasn’t sure how he had ended up there.

"I would say you had enough fun for one evening."

The boy behind Kentaro almost screamed as he realized that it was Nikaido who had approached them unnoticed and had pulled the other one away from Kentaro before he could attack. The one behind Kentaro let go of him so that he dropped to the ground.

After the other one had gotten up again they both rushed out the room knowing that they would never stand a chance against Nikaido.

"Kentaro, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Taiga sat up and tried to crawl over to him, but Kentaro couldn’t even react to his question anymore, he was wondering how he was even still conscious. He felt like he would suffocate any moment.

"Taiga can you stand up?" Nikaido asked him and he nodded with a serious look even though Kentaro could see that he was also pretty hurt as he tried to get to his feet. But before Kentaro could scold him Nikaido lifted him up in his arms making him gasp on the sudden pain. He tried to take another breath, but as before it wouldn’t work and he felt how he was about to get hysteric.

“Take short flat breaths, like this it won’t hurt so much.” Nikaido told him as he moved towards the door signalizing Taiga to follow him. Kentaro tried as he was told and it really worked. It was still painful, but at least he could finally feel how some air made its way to his lunges again.

Nikaido put him down on the bed in the med room looking at him like he wasn’t sure if he should leave or not, but turned towards the door after another moment.

“Thank you.” Taiga said as Nikaido was almost out the room.

“I just didn’t want to get into trouble with Ueda, no reason to thank me.” Nikaido turned to the door again, but looked back to Kentaro, who had closed his eyes trying to calm down as the doctor examined him. “But I will get my payment from him, so tell him to see me when he is fine again!”

Taiga looked totally perplex towards the shut door as Nikaido had left the room without waiting for an answer. He wasn’t sure if he had just heard correctly, because if he did that would mean Nikaido had just decided to become Kentaro’s protector, if the boy would accept.

***

“Everything alright? How did he react?” Kentaro asked Taiga as he came back from his meeting with Ueda who had returned two days after the incident and had of course seen Taiga’s bruises and heard that Kentaro had to stay at the med room the last days, so he had called Taiga over to get an explanation of what happened.

“Let’s say I wouldn’t want to switch places with those two, because Ueda has cruel ways to punish people.”

“Does that mean Nikaido will testify it?”

“No need to do that, trust me. Ueda is the trainer, he has enough opportunities to punish people without any official reason.”

Kentaro escaped a small chuckle realizing that having Ueda on their side was the best thing that could happen, because having him as an enemy was maybe the most dangerous thing in this club.

“Did you speak to Nikaido again?” Kentaro asked curious, because the doc didn’t let him run around the last two days and Taiga was his only way to get information about what was going on. “I can finally leave the med room this evening again.”

“Is your throat okay?”

“Breathing still hurts a little bit, but it will be completely okay in a few days again.”

A weird silence followed as Taiga tried to avoid Kentaro’s question from before. But he could see that Kentaro was still waiting for an answer so he grabbed a chair and sat down next to his bed sighing.

“No I didn’t talk to him again, but the day he brought us here he wanted me to tell you that he wants you to meet him when you are okay again.”

“That would be in the evening then, I guess.”

“Did you get what I just said?” Taiga asked as Kentaro reacted as if it would be no big deal so maybe he hadn’t got the reason behind this meeting.

“Yes I did, I will meet up with him later so I can thank him.”

“Kentaro, he doesn’t want a thank you, he wants his payment.”

“What are you talking ab-…WAIT, WHAT?” As Kentaro finally got what this was about he fell silent for a moment trying to make sense out of what Taiga just said. “He can’t be serious, does he really think I would choose someone like him as a protector just because he helped me once, okay twice, but he said himself he didn’t do it to help me in the first place!”

“To be honest I don’t know what he is thinking, but fact is that you have to meet him, ignoring him would be your death sentence.”

“Great, now I feel a lot better.”

“Sorry…”

Both boys sighed again, after all that had happened in this short time since he had entered the club Kentaro wouldn’t be surprised if it would get even worse from now on and Nikaido wanting to give him protection sounded just too weird after he was so pissed because of him at the day of the tournament, but he was about to meet him anyways and see what would happen, because just a small part of him wanted to approve of him as a protector just to see how it would work out, but first they had to talk about the payment and it made Kentaro already feel nauseous.

A few hours later he finally stepped out the med room. Taiga had attended the training already again as his wounds weren’t as bad as his. Kentaro walked towards the training room hoping to find Taiga there before he had to meet with Nikaido, but when he walked inside it was empty. He sighed deeply as he realized that he had to go through this alone.

He was still standing in the door as a hand landed on his shoulder making him squeal and jump to the side out of surprise.

“At least you have enough air back to make weird noises.” Nikaido said in a way too serious tone as he passed him. “Come in, you have a perfect timing.”

Kentaro was not sure if he was joking, but Nikaido just moved inside the room not even looking at him if he would follow. Kentaro looked outside to the hallway once more, but there was no one to be seen and for a moment he wasn’t sure anymore, if it was really a good idea to be alone with him, but on the other hand he had helped him out before so why should he switch sides now?

“Hey, what are you doing? I told you to come in!” Nikaido shouted at him making Kentaro finally enter the room running over to him. As he stopped in front of him, Nikaido threw a pair of fighting cloves at him.

“Put them on.”

“What?”

“Are you also deaf? I told you to put the fucking gloves on.” Nikaido’s temper was really the worst, but Kentaro knew better than giving him a cocky answer.

“Come over here.” Nikaido walked to the ring and held the ropes open for him before he stepped inside as well putting his own gloves on. Kentaro felt how cold sweat drops were running down his forehead now that he was standing in the ring with the one person everyone told him to stay away from.

“Are you fit enough to fight?”

“I guess so.” Kentaro answered in a low voice looking at Nikaido as he approached him.

“Good then attack.” He didn’t even stand in a defense position instead he was even opening up his arms to make it easier for him. For a moment Kentaro thought about to ask him why he should fight against him, but he would make him even angrier with stupid questions he figured. So instead of thinking too much he just did as he was told.

Of course Nikaido could have dodged his attacks easily, but Kentaro froze as he didn’t even move as he had punched him on the cheekbone. He looked at him with wide eyes his fist still remaining on his face, until Nikaido took his wrist and pushed him backwards looking at him in a mixture of disappointment and anger.

“So you think like this you can win against anyone? You wouldn’t even stand a chance against a small kid.”

Kentaro opened his mouth wanting to counter that he had stand a chance against Hokuto and even Senga, but that was because they didn’t knew about his fighting style. They wouldn’t make the same mistake again and in a real fight he would maybe get beaten to death, so he just shut his mouth again.

Nikaido pulled him around on his arm to take both his wrists in his hands. Kentaro froze as his back hit the older one’s chest.

“Being fast is good, it will help you to last long enough in the ring until your opponent is tired, but if you are not strong enough all your effort will be good for nothing in the end.” Nikaido guided his arms back to his body and back to the front again and even though it was hard to focus being so close and feeling his breath in his neck he could feel that his movements felt different now that Nikaido guided him. “If you just lunge out from somewhere all the energy of the punch will get lost before you even hit, when you move your arms the way I guide them even someone like you can hit with enough strength to win a fight.”

Kentaro nodded having trouble to bring out clear words, not because of his throat, but because he felt kind of nervous without even knowing why.

“You also have to take a better stand, when you want to hit hart you have to take the energy from your legs as well.” Nikaido’s voice wasn’t gentle it wasn’t the same as when he got taught by Ueda. His grip was tight and his voice emotionless, but when he moved his leg between Kentaro’s to make him stand in another position Kentaro took a sharp breath without even wanting to. He didn’t dare to look at Nikaido not wanting him to see that he felt a little bit awkward while Nikaido seemed to take this more than professional.

“If you got this then try it again!” Nikaido commanded after he had let go of his wrists. But this time he walked over to the side of the ring to get one of the boxing pads so that Kentaro could try it out on it.

Nikaido nodded at him as he stood in front of him with the pad in one of his hands. Kentaro tried to hit it the way he had told him, but the impact was as weak as before.

“Are you kidding me? If you can’t even do this, then there is no chance for you to become a good fighter.”

“You just taught me how to do it a second ago, how am I supposed to do it right with the first try?” Kentaro replied angrier than he wanted to and bit his lip the moment Nikaido raised an eyebrow at him.

“I guess you still don't get what it means to be in a fight club. This is no game! If you are standing out there at a tournament you won’t get a second chance to make a right move! If you are lucky you will just get knocked out, if you are unlucky it will be the last mistake you’ll ever make.”

Kentaro looked to the ground knowing that exactly this fate might await him when he would finally get to fight serious in a tournament.

“Don’t space out! If you give up so easily then you won’t live long.” Nikaido got back in his position signalizing him to attack once more, but Nikaido had made him nervous and so the next punch was even weaker and he almost missed the target.

“You know if you want to get killed you can tell me, I can save the other clubs the trouble and just let our younger ones beat you to death.”

“Then you shouldn’t have helped me in the first place.” Kentaro hissed before he could even stop himself. But every time Nikaido spoke to him in this arrogant way he just felt like shouting at him.

“I told you that I didn’t do it for your sake.”

“Then why did you do it? Just to humiliate me yourself? Are you so high and mighty that you even need someone you can step on all by yourself?” Kentaro had shoved his caution to the side completely, yelling at him so that his throat started to hurt again.

“Oh kid, you really think that you are worth so much of my attention?” Nikaido asked with a sarcastic chuckle and his arrogant behavior made Kentaro freak. He screamed out lunging out and instead of dodging the punch Nikaido held up the punching pad and as Kentaro hit it Nikaido had to stop the pad with both hands so that it wouldn’t get pushed against his head.

“Exactly this is why I helped you!” Nikaido said kind of satisfied.

Kentaro was breathing hard looking at his hand in disbelieve as he realized that he did it. This punch had felt so different from everything he did before.

“How?” He asked more to himself than to Nikaido who chuckled on his astonishment.

“I realized it on your first fight already and then against Senga it was the same. When you get pissed you fight way better and obviously you fight the best when you get pissed at me and I will be nice and take it as a compliment.”

Nikaido stepped out the ring throwing his gloves on the next chair before turning around again.

“For today this is enough, your throat must still hurt. If you want to get better meet me here one hour after each training.”

Nikaido already walked over to the door as Kentaro finally found his voice again.

“Wait! But why do you want to train me?”

“As I told you I don’t like weak guys pretending to be tough and humiliating the ones which are even weaker, but being weak and not defending oneself is even worse, so I offer you to get strong.”

“But why me?”

“Let’s say you caught my interest.” He said with a lopsided smile.

“And your payment?” Kentaro asked finally before he could just leave without telling him.

Nikaido turned back to him pointing at him with an outstretched arm.

“You getting stronger will be my payment for now! If you won’t manage that I will have to change it though.” He left the room without waiting for Kentaro's reaction leaving the boy behind in complete confusion. Kentaro wasn't sure if he should be happy about this type of payment or not, but he didn't want to find out to what type he would change it, if he wouldn't get stronger.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

“WHAT? He really said that?”  
“Would you keep your voice down? I don’t think he wants me to tell you and shouting it out to the others isn't a good idea either.” Kentaro and Taiga were sitting in the back of the training room and Kentaro had just told him what had happened the evening before between him and Nikaido.  
“But, I mean, is he really serious?” Taiga asked still kind of shocked, but tried to keep his voice down this time.  
“Yes he was, but I don’t know what to do to be honest. I don’t want to say yes, just because I am afraid to say no, you know what I mean?”  
“Absolutely.” Taiga nodded looking over Kentaro’s shoulder and then his look changed as the door opened. “Speaking of the devil.”  
Kentaro sighed but turned around nevertheless. Nikaido walked straight to Senga not giving him a single look even though he was sure that he had seen him and Taiga as he had entered.  
“Is he kidding me?” Kentaro asked turning back to Taiga.  
“Nope, not at all. Just look at Ueda and me, while training you would never see that he is my protector and I bet you still don’t know who else has a protector and who doesn’t.”  
“No, I don’t and that is kind of irritating, because when no one knows it, how can it help me having one?”  
“Trust me, the ones which need to know will do so. Take for examples the two boys from before.”  
Kentaro looked over to the two boys which were already fighting for the 5th round in the ring. Ueda was screaming at them the whole time and even though it was typical for him Kentaro realized that he made their training extra horrible for beating up Taiga. He also realized that they were looking over to Nikaido from time to time, so alone the fact that he had been showing up that evening was enough to scare them.  
“I think I get your point.”  
“But remember, when he is not around it will get dangerous. You saw what happened as Ueda was gone. As soon as the news about Nikaido being your protector got around, they will also see you as their pray as soon as he isn’t around.”  
“Maybe one good point to consider denying his offer.” Kentaro said in a low voice remembering how frightened Taiga had looked as he had realized that his protector wasn’t around.  
“Kentaro, Taiga! Your turn!”  
Finally Ueda had let the two boys out of the ring and they collapsed to the ground happy about a break, but when Kentaro and Taiga walked passed they gave them a dangerous glare and Kentaro thought once more about his chances to get through all this all by himself and then he suddenly stopped making Taiga bump into him.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Nothing, sorry.” Kentaro shook his head, but his thoughts had just make him realize that he had already decided, hadn't he? There was no good reason to deny Nikaido’s offer, except for the times when he wouldn't be around! But the danger awaiting him when he wouldn't be around would definitely be smaller than if he would stay on his own for the whole time. He looked over to the older one, but as before Nikaido didn’t even take any notice of him so Kentaro tried to get those thoughts out of his head until the training was over, because he was about to get angry again and he didn’t want to let his anger out on Taiga in the ring.  
And luckily the training ended sooner as expected as Nakai came for an announcement. Everyone sat down and Kentaro was still fascinated by his bright personality as he waited for everyone to gather.  
“Thank you all for your great work at the last tournament! Of course a few of you have lost, but don’t worry. Loosing is the best way to become stronger!” He smiled into the round and rested his eyes on Nikaido for a moment before continuing. “Our club is on the 2nd rank under the fight clubs at the moment, isn’t that great?”  
He stretched out his hands towards everyone like he wanted an answer, but no one dared to look up at him and Kentaro could feel how the atmosphere had changed.  
“Really great indeed, if you are fine with just being 2nd! But I want us to be 1st!” Nakai continued in a dark voice and Kentaro finally saw another side of him, obviously the side which made him the boss of this club. “The next tournament is in 3 weeks. We are fighting against the central-Tokyo fight club, which is in 3rd place at the moment. This is a warm up for the match in three month against the 1st ranked east-Tokyo club, so if anyone of you is disgracing the club against the 3rd rank already I will make sure that you get punished. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t tell you that you are not allowed to lose, but if I have the feeling that you are not giving one hundred percent then it will get ugly for you, I hope I made myself clear.”  
Again he formed a smile and looked through the round and then his eyes met Kentaro’s.  
“Oh Kentaro, before I forget to tell you, you will have your debut match on that day. Please ask Tegoshi for advice, it will be an opponent he knows quite well, his name is Fukazawa.”  
Nakai excused himself after his announcement and Ueda ended the training for the day, but Kentaro was too shocked to leave the room and it didn’t take long until he remained with just Taiga and Tegoshi.  
“Ehm, Kentaro are you okay?” Taiga asked as Kentaro was still sitting on the ground not moving at all just staring towards the door.  
“I think that one was a little bit too sudden for him.” Tegoshi said worried looking at him with a kind of apologizing look even though it wasn’t his fault.  
“Sudden? This is impossible isn’t it?” Kentaro finally said standing up ruffling through his hair. “And this Fukazawa guy, if he normally fights against you, I won’t stand a chance. You are in the 3rd fighting class, right? You can’t tell me that I am in the same class!” Kentaro ran up and down the room, but stopped when Tegoshi started laughing suddenly.  
“Calm down, Kentaro. First of all, Fukazawa is in the 2nd class. I switched to the 3rd a while ago and just because someone is already a member of the fight club longer than you doesn’t make him a better fighter. Shall I tell you something encouraging? Fukazawa won just 3 times against me until now and we fought at least a dozen of times.”  
“But you are an amazing fighter, I saw you train so much until now, it is natural that he has no chance, I wouldn’t stand a chance against you either. No wonder you changed into the 3rd class.”  
“Don’t be so sure about that.”  
To Kentaro’s surprise it was Taiga who had said that, but Tegoshi didn’t get angry instead he nodded confusing Kentaro even more.  
“Did you realize something when I am training in the ring?”  
Kentaro had to recall the times he had seen him fight, but he wasn’t sure what he meant.  
“You are really quick, maybe even quicker than Taiga and your attacks hit perfectly where you aim, after just a few minutes you already win.”  
“Exactly! Did you see me fight longer than just a few minutes until now?”  
Kentaro tried to remember, but now that he mentioned it, he didn’t.  
“I don’t have the stamina to go through a long fight.” Tegoshi said still smiling even though a slight sign of embarrassment was visible on his face. “As you two I also can’t win through pure strength, so I need to be fast and accurate. But being fast has its price, because you get exhausted easily. If I can’t find my way through my opponent’s defense after a few minutes I will normally lose.”  
Kentaro was surprised about his open attitude, but why wouldn’t he tell him, they were in the same club and Taiga had told him that he was one of the good guys, so there was no reason to keep it a secret.  
“Anyways, let’s talk about the details at the training tomorrow, don’t overthink this too much, it will be fine.” Tegoshi ruffled through Kentaro’s hair before excusing himself.  
“Don’t worry, Tegoshi will help you and if you want to I bet Nikaido will be a big help as well.”  
Kentaro had totally forgotten that he had to give him an answer today even though he had so many other thoughts racing through his head at the moment.  
“You want me to wait with you until he comes?”  
“No it’s fine, he will show up soon. I bet you want to meet up with Ueda.”  
Taiga seemed unsure if he should really leave him alone, but on the other hand Nikaido knew that Kentaro was waiting for him, he wouldn’t be alone for too long, so in the end he excused himself and Kentaro remained alone in the big room sitting down on the side of the ring leaning against the ropes.  
Now that his first fight was decided it was more than clear that he couldn’t go through this all alone. Even when Tegoshi would help him, for what he was really thankful, he had the feeling that he needed Nikaido’s help even more. But there was one point which still bothered him and through which he still hadn't decided if he should say yes or no.  
“You are early.”  
Kentaro looked up as Nikaido entered the room with the same serious and professional attitude as always and again it made Kentaro angry.  
“So do you have decided?”  
“Are you going to ignore me except for the special lessons when I say yes?”  
Nikaido had approached him, but stopped a few steps away from him on his sudden question. The younger one’s expression was as serious as his own and Nikaido obviously enjoyed his attitude as he cracked a lopsided smile before reaching out for one of the ring stools to sit down opposite of him. He was so near that Kentaro automatically leaned back against the ropes.  
“Why would I pay you any attention in the normal training? We are not in the same class and as long as Ueda doesn’t ask me to help with your training I don’t see any reason to pay you attention.”  
“And why not? Is it so hard to at least look at me when you enter the room?” Kentaro’s voice had again got darker and he tried to not get too angry on Nikaido’s arrogant behavior.  
“I am here for you now, aren’t I? As long as you want me to be here that is of course! You still didn’t give me an answer.”  
“If you keep ignoring me at the normal training I am saying no.” Kentaro was shocked by his own words. He hadn’t intended to say this, but it was this tension between them again which made him say those things.  
“Oh so now you put up demands to your protector, wow that is something new.” Nikaido said laughing as he got up again getting his gloves and threw another pair at Kentaro.  
“So you are doing what I ask of you?” Kentaro asked perplex as Nikaido stepped into the ring obviously waiting for Kentaro to get ready for their training.  
For this evening he had not asked again, but he was more than curious as he walked inside the training room the next morning. Tegoshi and Taiga were already waiting for him and Tegoshi lost no time to throw so many information about Fukazawa and the tournament at him that he couldn’t even get all of it.  
As Kentaro was about to step into the ring the door opened again and Senga stepped inside followed by Nikaido. They were talking about the tournament and passed Fuma, Hokuto and a few others without spending them any kind of attention and then Senga passed by the ring and Nikaido followed him. Kentaro had frozen to the spot from the moment they had moved towards his direction and he was ready to explode as it seemed like Nikaido wouldn’t keep his word, but as he wanted to turn around ready to shout at the older one he felt Nikaido’s hand on his shoulder.  
It was just a small clap and except of Taiga no one had realized it. Kentaro turned around looking after him as he stopped at the punching bags and then their eyes met as Nikaido remained like this for just a brief moment to look at him once more with an intense stare before he focused on his training. Before Kentaro could even get what exactly had just happened Taiga had turned him around.  
“Okay you better explain to me later what is going on, because that was just awesome. Weird indeed, but awesome! How did you manage to make him pay attention to you?”  
“To be honest I don’t know myself.” Sure he had told him that he wanted him to not ignore him anymore, but he could have just took his offer to be a protector back and continue like before. But he didn’t! He really did what he had asked of him even though a pat on the shoulder and a brief look wasn’t much, but it was enough for Kentaro. It made him realize that out of some unknown reason it wasn’t just himself who really wanted Nikaido to be his protector, but the latter wanting to protect him as well and Kentaro was determined to find out the reason why!

***

The three weeks had passed way too fast and Kentaro felt way too nervous as he stood next to Ueda at the entrance of the ring. Sure Nikaido and Tegoshi had helped him a lot as well as Ueda and Taiga, but he didn’t know his opponent and the theory part of his fighting style wouldn’t be as helpful as seeing him fight against someone else before he had to.  
“You look a little bit pale?” Ueda said in a way too serious voice.  
“Oh really? I wonder why?”  
“You did awesome in all the training lessons and I bet that Nikaido showed you more than just a few awesome techniques.”  
“How did you-?”  
Kentaro shut himself up again as he realized that it was a stupid question. Taiga had told him that the right people would find out and Ueda was for sure one of the few who knew about everything going on in the club. He had told Taiga to not tell anyone and he was sure that he didn’t even tell Ueda, but there were enough ways he could have found out.  
Kentaro looked up to the second floor were Taiga, Tegoshi, Nikaido and a few other fighters were standing. They still had to fight later and having them watch his fight made him calm down a little bit. Being a dancer had the positive effect that he liked it to be in the center of attention, so at least this wouldn’t be a problem.  
The sudden applause ripped him out of his thoughts and he looked over to the ring were Fuma stood triumphing over his unconscious opponent.  
“Show them what you got!” He encouraged Kentaro as he walked out the ring trying to walk normal acting tough as always. He had had to take in a lot of kicks from his opponent and his knees should be a mess by now, but he was way too proud to show it. Instead he held out his hand to Kentaro and he gave him a short high five before Ueda told Kentaro to enter the ring.  
Nakai was already waiting for him and then he saw Fukazawa entering the ring from the other side and he slowed down. He was way taller than him and even though Tegoshi had told him that he was someone who tried to win through straight strong attacks and had a lot weak points as well he was taken aback by his self-confident appearance.  
The latter scanned Kentaro with his eyes as they stopped in front of each other and Fukazawa lifted one of his mouth corners for just a brief moment before turning towards Nakai. Kentaro’s eyes fell on Nikaido as he turned around as well, but his eyes didn’t show any kind of worry. Even though that wasn't a reason to calm down, because Nikaido would normally not show any emotions, if it wasn’t to scold Kentaro for messing up a technique again.  
“My dear customers let me introduce to you our newest fighter, Kentaro! He has a really fast and acrobatic fighting style, I hope he can draw you attention.”  
There were various conversations going on at the second floor and the customers were pointing at the boys while setting their bets. Even though Kentaro should be worried about his health or even about his life he was also thinking about the money.  
A fighter who didn’t gain money for the club would get thrown out sooner or later and just the thought about wandering around all alone in the streets of Tokyo again sent cold shivers down his spine.  
Nakai turned around to the boys and patted Kentaro on the shoulder lightly before leaving the ring.  
"You are not the kind of fighter I expected.” Fukazawa said teasing as they started circling around each other.  
"Trust me I thought exactly the same." Kentaro's voice was steady, but while Fukazawa was joking around obviously thinking that he had already won, Kentaro had to try hard to not panic already.  
Without saying another word Fukazawa took a run up and attacked straight on. It seemed too obvious to Kentaro what he was planning, so he dodged his first attacks without a problem moving fast as always.  
"Got you!" Fukazawa said suddenly confusing Kentaro. He continued attacking the same way and Kentaro was still able to dodge and block his attacks. But then Fukazawa had suddenly spun around the moment Kentaro wanted to dodge his punch, but it was already too late for him to react as his opponent gave him such a hard spinning kick against his rips that it crashed him into the ground. Kentaro groaned turning to the side trying to get up again. Tegoshi had warned him that Fukazawa was good at analyzing and it seemed like he was also pretty fast with it. But then Kentaro realized something even worse and he tried to jump up, but it was already too late. Fukazawa had rushed over to him and sat down on his stomach throwing punches at him without a break. The moment an opponent would lie on the ground Fukazawa made sure that he wouldn't get up again and Kentaro got trapped exactly in this attack.  
He cursed himself for getting defeated even though he knew about his tricks and attacks. He got so angry at his own weakness that he started screaming and before Fukazawa knew what was going on Kentaro had stopped his next punch to everyone's surprise, everyone except Nikaido, because he was the one teaching him how to block even strong attacks and of course Kentaro’s anger was also pretty helpful.  
Kentaro twisted himself away under him and threw him to the ground by trapping his neck between his legs.  
Kentaro jumped up again knowing that he wasn’t strong enough to hold him on the ground, he would need advance to attack from the distance.  
"You are full of surprises." Fukazawa said laughing as he got up again moving his head from one side to the other with a cracking sound. He still kept his smile looking way too excited, but Kentaro stayed tense and focused. This time he reacted immediately as the other one tried to attack. For each attack he had just one try, because Fukazawa would be able to dodge it after seeing it once.  
His try to attack with a spinning kick ended with Fukazawa blocking it with his arm, but Kentaro lost no time and put his hands to the ground now that his foot was on the side of the others head and spun around on his hands trying to kick him from another direction. This time Fukazawa grabbed his leg instead of just blocking it pulling Kentaro away from the ground to throw him over his shoulder upside down, but when Kentaro rolled over and stood up like nothing would have happened Fukazawa escaped a frustrated groan. One of his weak points as Tegoshi had explained him! If he wouldn't win fast he would get frustrated and unconcentrated.  
Kentaro looked up at Nikaido for just a brief moment and looked back at Fukazawa with a lopsided smile as he got to see what he wanted.  
"What are you smiling at you little brat?" Fukazawa yelled at him obviously getting more pissed with every second.  
"Let's say I just saw the outcome of this fight."  
"Are you also a fortune teller or what?"  
"How about you find out?" Kentaro spread his arms inviting and Fukazawa cursed before taking a run up at him.  
Before Fukazawa could even think about a defense move Kentaro had jumped up the moment he had came into his reach. He had jumped so high that he could close his legs around the other's throat and before his opponent did even realize what was happening he had put all his weight forward as he moved his upper body around him in the air and the moment his back touched Fukazawa's back it was already too late. The force lifted him off the ground and over Kentaro who stretched out his hands to the ground and landed graceful on his stomach while Fukazawa crashed into the ground behind him.  
Kentaro got up and looked at Nikaido again who gave him a nod again, as he did before and this nod had told Kentaro that he would be able to win this match. Over the weeks Nikaido had screamed at him, given up on him a few times and even hit him when he wouldn't concentrate enough. But he would just nod when he was one hundred percent sure that Kentaro got what he taught him. Seeing him nod told him that he believed in him and rather than his anger Nikaido's trust gave him the strength he really needed.  
"Awesome, Kentaro!" Taiga shouted down to him as it was clear that Fukazawa wouldn't get up again.  
"You did it." Tegoshi clapped his hands and a few other fighters and customers did as well, but there was no huge applause for him and it made him realize that almost none of them had bet on him. On the other hand Nakai looked more than satisfied and Kentaro knew why, because he had just made a lot of money through his fight.  
Still totally overwhelmed by his win he moved to the side of the ring, but as he walked down the few steps on the side his legs gave in and Ueda had to catch him.  
"Seems like you learned how to take in hits without showing it." Ueda said proud helping him stand next to the ring until Taiga and Nikaido came over to them.  
"Kentaro that was awesome. But will you be okay? Maybe it’s better to bring you to the med room." Taiga shouted totally hyper clapping him on the shoulder and examining him at the same time.  
"Thank you, but you should concentrate on yourself instead, you are fighting next right?"  
Taiga nodded, but kept looking at him worried.  
"I'm fine, stop looking at me like this." Kentaro let go of Ueda and tried to walk by himself, but his legs were shaking so much, that they gave in after a few steps already so that Taiga had to catch him this time.  
"Oh yeah I can see that."  
But before Kentaro could argue Nikaido had put his hand on Taiga's shoulder and signalized him to step aside.  
Kentaro looked at him questioning as he reached out for him and took his arm to put it around his shoulder. As he lifted him up in his arms Kentaro stopped breathing for a moment.  
This was definitely not what he had expected of him and of all places not here. Before at the training room as he had helped him and Taiga there was no one else around, but here it was completely natural that most of the eyes were on him, but he didn't seem to care at all.  
"I will take care of him, so would you concentrate on your fight? I’m not in the mood to listen to Nakai’s long scolding about concentrating at a tournament again." Taiga just nodded at him and stared as perplex as Ueda after him as he left the tournament hall with a not really comfortable looking Kentaro in his arms.  
Kentaro had lowered his head feeling the heat crawling up his cheeks. Why was he embarrassed in the first place? He didn't know himself, but maybe because Nikaido was the last person he would have expected to care for him like this.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

“You know, if you want to train more with Kentaro you have to get back into a lower fighting class!” Hokuto teased Fuma as he stepped out the ring after he refused to train with Hokuto before and helped Kentaro with his training instead.

“Or I just train with him so much that he will enter at least your class and then he can beat you up.” Fuma replied in the same mocking tone hitting him lightly against the shoulder before turning away with a teasing smile. Hokuto chased after him jumping on his back squeezing his head between his fists so that the older one tried to get him off his back while shouting at him.

“Those two are really weird.” Kentaro said finally stepping out the ring as well.

“But they are really good friends, even though they also hate each other sometimes, but that is more because they like to compete against each other.” Taiga explained handing Kentaro a towel. “But at the moment they seem to want to challenge you instead of each other.”

“I wonder why. Since the tournament they almost drag me into the ring every time I enter the room.”

“You got famous with one fight, that’s a good thing.”

Kentaro smiled at him, but as he turned around his smile vanished as Nikaido stood right in front of him. The tournament had been just a week ago and since then he hadn’t shown up for Nikaido’s special lessons once. He didn’t even know himself why, but something kept him away from him and of course Nikaido had noticed. The first two times Kentaro had just told him that he was still not feeling good enough for training, but now that he was training normally again he couldn’t excuse himself like this anymore and Nikaido’s piercing look told him that he was more than angry.

But instead of saying anything he just passed him to step inside the ring followed by Senga. But to his surprise Senga stopped next to him, putting his hand on his shoulder leaning down to his ear.

“If I were you I wouldn’t test his patience so much, he can be really resentful.”

Senga’s words made it even harder for him to concentrate on the rest of the training and as they were finally allowed to go he looked after Nikaido as he left the room without spenind him any kind of attention.

He felt so stupid for behaving like, like what? He wasn’t sure himself what exactly held him back from continuing his training with him. Everything was fine, wasn’t it? It was even better than he had expected. Nikaido was proud of him, because he won his fight, he had taught him awesome new techniques and helped him more than he could normally asked of a protector and that just because he found him interesting and now that he finally had his attention, which he wanted all the time out of some unknown reason he tried to run away!?

“Everything alright?” Taiga asked worried as Kentaro’s grip on his towel went so tight that his hand started shaking.

“To be honest, no! But I am going to make it right again.”

Kentaro was determined to fight against himself this time. Whatever it was that tried to make him keep his distance he wanted to fight it off, because it just didn’t feel right seeing how Nikaido was obviously angry at him, but also somehow hurt by his behavior. Of course he didn’t say anything about it and he didn’t try to show it, but Kentaro could see more in his behavior than the others.

So that evening he finally waited for him in the training room, but after an hour had already passed he still hadn’t shown up. Sure he could also try to sneak through the corridors and see if he was in his room, but he stopped himself from going that far. He didn’t want to seem like he was running after him.

He sat on the side of the ring staring at the ceiling and another hour past. He shut his eyes and drifted off in a light sleep as he heard the door open. For a moment he didn’t even open his eyes until the sound of the steps stopped right in front of him. As he opened his eyes a shiver went over his back as he saw Nikaido looking down at him with a kind of weird expression. He didn’t seem angry more like worried and it made Kentaro feel even worse.

“So you came to train?”

“I guess so.”

For a moment they were just staring at each other not showing any kind of emotion until Kentaro grabbed his gloves and stood up. He went into the ring waiting for Nikaido to follow. They trained serious and Nikaido screamed at him a lot to concentrate and he really tried, he tried so hard that he totally forgot about his weird feeling, which tried to make him keep his distance.

From that evening on their training continued as usual and Nikaido protected him as always, but luckily there was not so much to get protected from. Nikaido was around almost all the time and most of the fighters seemed scared enough alone by the fact that their number one fighter had become a protector for the first time. But something had changed since they had started their training lessons again making the tension between them visible to everyone else.

“I am going to throw him out the window, if he sighs one more time!” Senga growled as he snatched away a bottle of water from the table next to the door of the training room the moment Nikaido had left.

“That sounds exactly like what Taiga had just said about Kentaro.” Tegoshi said laughing gaining a chuckle from Hokuto and a confused expression from Fuma.

“What is going on with those two recently? If Nikaido is not in the mood to be a protector anymore he should just say so, it is not like he is normally the sensitive guy.” Senga said annoyed putting the bottle back on the table with so much force that a few others fell to the side and Hokuto and Fuma had to catch them before they would fall off the table and break.

“No reason to destroy our water, I don’t want to get scolded by Ueda for it.” Hokuto said while putting the glass bottles back on the table.

“But Senga is right, why are they still training with each other when it seems like they would like to just rip each other apart all the time?” Fuma asked curious playing with one of the bottles throwing it up all the time until it didn’t come down again. He almost squealed as he looked up and saw that Ueda had caught the bottle over his head and was standing behind him.

“How about you mind your own business instead?” He asked putting the bottle back on the table. “Just so you know there are also other reasons than hate to get such a tension between two people.”

Fuma raised an eyebrow at him obviously not getting at all what he was talking about, while Hokuto’s face went kind of pale as he obviously guessed right and Tegoshi just tried to hide his smile as he also got what he was talking about. Senga just slammed his hands in front of his eyes growling.

“No, you can’t be serious!” Senga said while shaking his head.

“I didn’t expect that to happen to be honest.” Tegoshi said biting his lip still trying not to laugh.

“What are you even talking about?” Fuma asked confused, but Ueda just tapped on his shoulder nodding with a light smile on his face.

“You wouldn’t even see a demolition ball before it would hit you.”

“That applies for those two as well!” Hokuto added with a small chuckle.

“But seriously, if this is really the case we should stop them before they find out about it themselves. This is not going to be accepted by Nakai or any other club, we would get in more than a little bit trouble.” Senga voiced out his worries and Hokuto nodded slowly looking at Ueda who could understand them, but didn’t seem to share their opinion.

“Too be honest I am not sure if Nakai would even be against it and to be honest I guess they found out themselves already!”

“Then why are they still behaving like this and getting on everyone’s nerves?” Senga asked getting up ruffling through his hair.

“How would you react? Do you think it is easy to accept those feelings? Trust me it is not!” On Ueda’s words a weird silence followed, but Ueda didn’t get disturbed by it as he walked back to the door. “Just give them a little bit more time they will find a way to deal with it. I bet they know themselves how much danger it could bring, so they are still hesitating, but I doubt that they can keep the act up for much longer.”

“Let’s just observe them for now and try to keep the bad guys away from them as much as possible.” Tegoshi said as he also moved towards the door.

“Yeah, they really don’t need the wrong guys knowing about it! It should be confusing enough for them already.” Hokuto agreed grabbing his gloves walking up to Tegoshi.

“I still hope that this is a bad joke, but okay if you are all fine with it I will just wait and see, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with you.” Senga followed them and then the door fell shut.

“WOULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT IS GOING ON?” Fuma shouted after them as he remained in the training room alone ruffling through his hair running up and down still not getting what everyone was talking about.

***

"Concentrate!" Nikaido shouted as Kentaro messed up the same technique for the third time already.

"I do, this one is difficult." Kentaro countered already as angry as him.

"If you don't want to continue just say it." Nikaido said suddenly getting out his defense stand dropping with his back against the ropes crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You are so impatient you know that? You don't have to ask me if I want to give up or if I'm not taking the training serious each time I need a little bit longer to get a new technique!" Kentaro gave him an angry glare before stepping out the ring throwing his gloves to the ground.

"And you should stop giving up trying so easily." Nikaido yelled after him as he also stepped out as well.

"Whatever." Kentaro was not in the mood for such a conversation, but he didn't want to leave either. He just went over to the punching bags kicking it hoping he could calm down like this, but it just wouldn't work.

"Why are you kicking it so halfhearted? If you want to kick it, do it right."

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?" Kentaro had lost it the moment Nikaido had switched back into his serious and professional mood like he wouldn’t sense himself that the tension between them was making a normal training impossible by now, but as Kentaro turned around ready to yell at him again he found himself slammed into the wall before he could even breathe in.

"Don't forget about my payment!" Nikaido said in such a dangerous voice that Kentaro felt scared of him for the first time. "I told you to get stronger, but if you are giving up on that I might give up on you."

"You can't be serious?" Kentaro asked him kind of panicked and he was confused by the sound of his own voice. Why was he so hurt by his statement?

"If you don't want that how about we change the payment?" Nikaido's attitude had changed after Kentaro's question and now the younger one looked at him confused, but kind of hoping. He didn't want this to end, he didn't want to lose him as a protector nor did he want him to stop supporting him with his training.

"Then what payment would that be?" Kentaro asked nervous as Nikaido put his elbow next to his head on the wall. He gulped and his heartbeat got faster and again he could feel the heat crawling up his cheeks, but he wouldn't look away and then it happened.

Nikaido had grabbed his chin and crushed their lips together before Kentaro even knew what was going on. The younger one grabbed Nikaido's sleeves intuitive, but didn't try to struggle. Instead he even tried to pull him towards him putting one hand in his hair after a moment.

Nikaido also moved his hands to the younger one's hair and when he licked his tongue over his lips Kentaro shivered through excitement even though something inside of him screamed at him to push him away.

The kiss was hard and rushed at first, but turned deep and passionate after a while. And even though this small part inside of Kentaro continued screaming at him to stop, telling him that what he was doing would get both of them in big trouble and that it should normally feel completely wrong, Kentaro just couldn't get his body to struggle.

As Nikaido finally lost the contact to his lips he breathed hard still holding him in place so that their faces were just a few inches apart.

"This is going to be my payment." He finally replied in a husky voice making Kentaro look up at him. It wasn't like he had planned for this to happen and he even felt kind of unsure and nervous about it, but he knew that there was no way he could resist this exciting feeling inside of him.

"Then I would say we have a deal." Kentaro said in a low voice looking at him with such longing eyes that Nikaido already met him halfway as he wanted to lean in for another kiss.

He could think about consequences later, for now he left everything to his emotions ignoring the voice in his head which wanted to warn him about what could happen.

***

Kentaro tried hard to not stare at Nikaido all the time as they gathered for the regular training with Ueda the next day, but it was hard to shut the pictures and of course his feelings from the last evening out his head.

"Kentaro, watch out." Ueda didn't even try to warn him in time, he even said it kind of bored as if he would have known that Taiga's next attack would hit him with full strength, because Kentaro didn't concentrate enough to even think about blocking it.

He found himself on the ground coughing a few seconds later, after Taiga's kick had hit him perfectly into the stomach.

"Mh, you know I would say we should stop here or he will kill you in a few rounds without even wanting to." Ueda finally announced after Taiga had helped Kentaro up again. He just nodded and was more than relieved as he left the ring.

"What are you grinning at?" He asked Taiga as he sat down next to him with such a bright smile that he wondered if it wouldn't already hurt.

"You sure you really want to know?"

"I'm not in the mood for games, if you don't want to tell me, fine. But then stop grinning like an idiot."

Taiga escaped a small chuckle on Kentaro's annoyed behavior and he put his hand to his mouth to hide it.

"Please just promise me that you won't show the same reaction towards me or anyone else when you get angry, as you showed to Nikaido."

"What are you even talking about? You are not making any sense at all today."

Kentaro was about to stand up again as Taiga pulled him closer so he could speak in a low voice.

"I saw you." He whispered in an amused voice, but Kentaro was still too distracted through all that happened to get what he was talking about.

"What? Who?"

Taiga shook his head still smiling as he realized that he still didn't get it.

"I heard you shouting at Nikaido yesterday so I wanted to check if everything was alright, but when I opened the door I could see that it was even more than just alright."

Kentaro nodded as he hadn't paid full attention to him and had of course looked over to Nikaido instead who was as concentrated as always and acted like nothing would have happened.

"Kentaro didn't you listen to me?"

"Sure, you heard me shouting and wanted to check if everything's was okay and then-" He turned his head so fast towards Taiga that it hurt. "YOU DID WHAT?"

Taiga covered Kentaro's mouth with his hand before he could scream it out even louder, but a few of the others had already looked over to them.

"You know shouting it at everyone won't help you." Taiga said as he took his hand away after Kentaro had signalized him that he had calmed down.

"This has to be a joke, a really bad joke." Kentaro ruffled through his hair sighing on the thought that it had been discovered right from the start. He cursed himself for not listening to this small part of him which said that it was a bad idea.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's not like I haven't seen this coming already anyways."

"Then you saw one step ahead of me it seems."

"You know the involved ones are normally the blind ones."

"So anyone else already guessed this outcome as well?" Kentaro asked seriously worried and Taiga's face told him that there were really just two blind ones the whole time.

"Ueda told me that they were speculating, at least the ones close to you and you know that you can trust them, they will accept it."

"The one I am worried about is Nikaido to be honest. I am not sure if he realized what he did and said yesterday."

"Trust me he knows and he will be the last one to pretend that nothing had happened."

"Oh really? Then his emotional range seems really low, because for me it seems like everything he is doing right now his trying to act as everything is as usual."

"Are you sure about that?"

Taiga's question confused him and he looked over to Nikaido again, this time longer and more closely and then he saw it.

Sure Nikaido's face gave no emotions away and first everything looked normal, but then Kentaro realized that he was already breathing hard and sweating a lot and the most disturbing part was that his punches sometimes missed their goal even though he was so close. It almost hurt to see that he was as troubled as him, but tried hard to not let it show for both their sakes. It would be way too suspicious if they would both act weird out of a sudden.

"He tries to protect you and you should try as well." Taiga gave him a supporting smile and Kentaro replied with an even brighter smile finally feeling like he found something that would bond him to this place. He had chosen a dangerous life indeed, but at least he hadn't to continue alone as long as Nikaido wouldn't change his mind.

After the official training Kentaro was waiting nervously for Nikaido to show up for their training. Even though they would normally meet up an hour after the training Kentaro couldn't calm down enough to leave the room and distract himself. So for the last hour he had continued training by himself until he had collapsed on the ground closing his eyes. He asked himself if it was a good idea to accept the new payment. He stroke with his fingers over his lips and the pictures showed up in his head again making him shiver as he remembered all the emotions connected to them.

"If you are already that exhausted I doubt that you will learn anything today."

Kentaro got up way too fast on Nikaido's voice, seeing stars in front of his eyes for a moment.

"I was just taking a break." 

"Good then let's start."

Again Nikaido showed nothing than his professional attitude for the whole training, but this time it didn't make Kentaro angry it even made it easier to concentrate.

"The next tournament is in less than two months, you still have to get a lot better, if you want to stand a chance." Nikaido explained after getting out the ring waiting for Kentaro to follow him.

"Don't remind me of that, I am already nervous enough." Kentaro replied sighing as he stepped out the ring, but stumbled over the rope and was about to fall from the small podium of the ring. But Nikaido caught him in time closing his hands around his hips while Kentaro had reached out for the other's shoulders intuitively.

"Yes I can see that, you can't even walk properly."

Kentaro couldn't take his eyes off him after he had said that. Not because of the statement itself, but because of the light and kind of teasing smile his lips had formed while saying it. But it vanished again as Nikaido realized that Kentaro wouldn't stop staring at him and that they were still holding on to each other.

Nikaido hawked letting go of Kentaro, but as he tried to make a step backwards the younger one held him in place not letting go of the fabric of his shirt.

"What is it?" Nikaido asked kind of confused and maybe even embarrassed as Kentaro was still staring so intense that it felt weird. "Do I have something on my face?"

Kentaro shook his head slowly before he finally started smiling himself and let go of him.

"You don't have at the moment, but you had something really awesome on your face a moment ago and I would love to see it more often, because it fits you pretty much."

Kentaro kept smiling at him for another moment before he grabbed his towel and left the room without another word. He knew that Nikaido would be more than confused, but he also knew that he wouldn't be angry. Something had changed between them and the tension had changed into pure excitement.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

** Chapter 6 **

Their training sessions continued like before and they never got interrupted, but Kentaro knew that this was definitely because of their friends knowing about what was going on between them and they knew exactly that pissing Nikaido off wouldn't be a good idea. Nikaido decided himself when it was time for his payment and even though Kentaro got really angry with him from time to time because of it, but the times they actually shared kisses were just too awesome to ruin it. What bothered him was that Nikaido totally ignored it when Kentaro obviously asked with his longing eyes for him to get his payment and then on other days when Kentaro was in a bad mood he would surprise him with a kiss in the ring not letting him back off what sometimes escalated in a fight between them afterwards, but Kentaro knew better than complaining too much, he had given his okay for this payment, now he had to learn how to deal with it.

"So let's call it a day." Again Nikaido was about to just leave the training room without asking for his payment even though Kentaro had almost begged him. But instead of saying anything Kentaro sat down at the side of the ring and sighed deeply closing his eyes not spending any attention to Nikaido anymore as he had already opened the door to leave.

"So again I am the loser of the day." Kentaro said to himself leaning his head back against the ropes.

"Then maybe the loser needs something to get back into a good mood?"

Kentaro opened his eyes almost shocked as Nikaido was standing right in front of him. He blinked at him confused, but before he could say something Nikaido had leant down to him while putting his hand under his chin to get his payment. The kiss was a short, but intense as Kentaro liked it. Nikaido backed off and turned around aiming for the door right away not even looking at the younger one again, but Kentaro smiled after him knowing that he didn’t just come back to get his payment, but because he had realized that Kentaro felt a little bit left alone.

Kentaro waited a moment and then took his stuff to get to the shower rooms. He entered the room still wearing a bright smile on his face. It wasn't that often that Nikaido cared that much for him, so he was more than happy. Deep in his thoughts he went under one of the showers. Just Ueda and the fighters of the 5th class like Nikaido had their private shower rooms. But because they trained really late there was normally no one in the shower at this time. Two times he had run into someone, but it had been Tegoshi once and Fuma the other time. Taiga was definitely taking his showers in Ueda's room. He had never said it, but no one had seen him enter the shower room really often so it was more than obviously.

Kentaro was still lost in his thoughts as he felt hands closing around his hips so sudden that he froze, but he knew that those hands weren't the ones he would want to touch him. He swirled around and pushed the other one away stepping to the side so he could see him clearly without the water falling down on him blurring his vision. Another fighter of their club stood in front of him and he didn't even seem surprised by Kentaro's reaction. Kentaro had seen him a few times before and he remembered that Taiga had told him to stay away from him, but until now he didn't even spend him any kind of attention or at least it had seemed like it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kentaro shouted angry at the man, which was maybe just a few years older than him, but in the fighting class right under Nikaido.

"What do you think I am doing naked in the shower room?" His cocky answer and arrogant smile made Kentaro even angrier. He acted like it was totally normal that he just touched him and even though Kentaro felt more than pissed he was also scared now that he was alone with him knowing that he wouldn’t stand a chance against him, if the situation would escalate.

"Taking a shower looks different, just so you know!" Kentaro tried to sound confident and walk passed him with big steps, but the man blocked his way. Kentaro pushed him away trying to pass him again, but he gasped his waist from behind dragging him back.

"Don't be so rude, how about you spend me some company?"

"LET GO!" Kentaro was already panicking as he realized that he wouldn't stand a chance against him as his fear paralyzed his body against his will. As the man moved one of his hands down over his tight and he felt his breath next to his ear he freaked. He slashed wild around him making the other one curse as he hit his eyes, but he couldn't free himself. Instead the man grabbed his hair and threw him down to the ground sitting on top of him. Kentaro let out a painful gasp as is head hit the stone floor so hard that he felt like blacking out for a moment.

The other fighter didn’t seem to care as he sat down on top of the boy pushing him down to the ground. Kentaro finally got a grip on himself again and tried to punch him as he leant closer, but everything was spinning around him and he could feel how blood was running down his neck mixing with the water on the floor.

"You little brat, just be a good kohai and do as I say."

Kentaro tried to twist himself away under him, but the latter forced him on his back again and Kentaro knew that he couldn’t keep up his struggle much longer.

"LET GO OF ME! HELP! SOMEONE HE-"

The man covered his mouth with so much force that Kentaro’s head hit against the floor again making him scream out in silence on the sudden pain. Kentaro screamed at his body to fight, but it wouldn’t react the way he wanted it to. He felt like watching himself from afar not able to turn his thoughts into actions.

Kentaro was struggling as much as his heavy body would allow him, but he couldn't fight him off and even though he didn't want to, he started crying as the man started touching him.

He didn't want to give up, but he didn't know a way out anymore. But then the man suddenly screamed out and was lifted off him. Kentaro couldn't even describe what he felt as he saw that it was Nikaido who had grabbed the man by the hair and had slammed him into the wall punching him so hard that he slid to the ground unconsciously right away.

"Calm down, everything is okay." Even though Nikaido really tried to make his voice sound comforting as he walked over to Kentaro who was still lying on the ground crying it wouldn't help him.

"Kentaro, look at me." Nikaido crouched down next to him to lift him up. He shook him a little bit so he would finally realize that it was over, but he was shivering all over not really able to catch up with what was happening around him.

"Hey, I'm here. Everything is alright." Nikaido talked to him in a really carrying voice and stroke with his hand carefully over his cheek and finally Kentaro looked at him and it seemed like he had landed back in reality. He sat up on his knees and pulled Nikaido in a tight hug fisting his shirt on his back. Feeling how Nikaido closed his arms around him as well made him finally relax a little bit.

"Let's get out of here for now and treat your head, okay?"

Kentaro just nodded his chin still resting on the latter's shoulder. Nikaido helped him up and helped him get dressed again. Kentaro tried to not look at the fighter on the ground, but each time his look fell on him he had to try hard to not start crying again. Taiga had told him that this could happen, but now that it actually did he was just way too shocked and not sure if he could handle it.

"He will get his punishment later, just forget about him for now I will talk to Ueda about it.” Kentaro nodded slowly and let himself get dragged out the shower. He was still so out of it that he hadn't realized where they were going until they walked up some stairs.

"Where are we going? The med room is downstairs."

"I doubt that you would want to explain how that happened to the doc or anyone other at the moment and I doubt that the doc is around that late anyways."

Kentaro was more than surprised on his carrying thoughts, but as he looked up to him not concentrating on where he was going he stumbled after a few steps. Luckily Nikaido was fast enough to catch him and without hesitating he lifted him up in his arms carrying him towards his room and this time Kentaro knew better than feel embarrassed about it, but even though he didn’t want to feel that way there was another feeling making it hard for him not to struggle against Nikaido’s grip.

"Here change into this." Nikaido threw some dry clothes on the bed after he had dropped Kentaro on it. Slowly he got up and changed into Nikaido’s clothes, which were of course way too big, but he couldn’t care less at the moment.

Nikaido walked over to a shelf and walked back to the bed as Kentaro had sat down again.

“Turn around, let me see your wound.” Nikaido put a few bandages on the bed while Kentaro turned away from him. He stayed silent for a moment while Nikaido treated his wound with such skillful and careful hands that Kentaro was again surprised by him. Even though he spent so much time with him by now, he always forgot about Nikaido’s carrying side until he finally showed it to him again.

"Why were you there?" Kentaro asked in a low voice trying to break the awkward silence.

"Because I am your protector and as the name says protecting you is my job."

"But how did you know that I needed help?"

"Do you really think I ever left you wander around alone after our training?"

Kentaro wanted to turn around to look at him, but Nikaido hold his head in place as he was still not finished with the bandaging.

"As I said this is my job, I get my payment for it, right? I normally just wait somewhere and leave when I am sure that you are back in your room, but today it just took unusually long, so I went over to the shower rooms and then I heard you shouting -."

Finally Kentaro understood why some of them didn't want to be a protector and he felt kind of stupid for not understanding that it wouldn't be just about scaring everyone away with evil stares at the training and rescue them just by coincidence.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? If someone should be sorry then it is this asshole." Nikaido stayed silent for a moment taking away his hands as he finally finished the bandaging. “And I should be sorry as well, for not realizing earlier that someone had followed you.”

Kentaro turned around towards him taking his hands in his, shaking his head.

"No, you don’t have to feel sorry at all! Without you-“ He stopped himself from ending his own sentence breathing in deep once before continuing. “What I meant is that I’m sorry for making you look after me all the time without even realizing that I was such a burden to you."

And there it was again, Nikaido chuckled and as Kentaro looked up at him he saw this unbelievable bright smile of his that he showed way too rarely.

"You are not a burden and you have not a single reason to be sorry. I decided for myself that I want to be your protector and I am not regretting it." He reached out for his cheek and as his fingers touched his skin the younger one closed his eyes tensing without wanting to.

"I know you must be scared, but I hope you know that I am here to protect you, not to harm you.”

Kentaro nodded right away knowing of course that being afraid of Nikaido wasn’t making any sense, but it still felt too real, the man's touch still somehow on his skin, his breath on his ear, like this it was just not possible to act like everything was alright. For now he would need time, but the question was if Nikaido's patience would be enough for Kentaro to treat his mental wounds.

***

A few days had passed and everyone tried to act normal, but Kentaro could feel Ueda's eyes on him from time to time. Of course Nikaido had told him what had happened and because he didn't see the other fighter anymore he was sure that Ueda or Nakai had taken care of him and in whatever way that was Kentaro didn’t even want to know. Taiga tried hard to act normal as well, but after Kentaro had told him everything, knowing that Taiga would listen to him whatever would happen, his behavior had changed as well. But it was different than he had expected, instead of trying to over-care for him it seemed to him like he would feel as scared at him, even though he had nothing to do with him. Maybe it was just his imagination, but at the moment he couldn’t care for someone else’s feelings as he's having too much trouble keeping himself together.  

"Where are you looking, concentrate." Nikaido hit him on the back of this head as the younger one had spaced out again. Nikaido was the only one who acted completely normal, maybe too normal and even though this was exactly what Kentaro needed, it somehow hurt him.

"Can we take a break?" Kentaro asked suddenly, but Nikaido's look told him that he wouldn't let him off so easily as he circled around him in the ring. It was rare that he was training with him in the official training, but Ueda had teamed them up, so that Nikaido couldn't refuse.

"We'll take a break after you hit me once!"

"What? For how long do you want us to train, years?"

Nikaido gave him a lopsided smile opening his arms signaling him that he had no other choice but to attack if he wanted to take a break.

Kentaro rolled his eyes, but attacked anyways. He would just continue until he would collapse then he had to let him stop.

Kentaro attacked straight forward knowing that Nikaido would block his attacks without a problem. Even as he swirled around and tried to first attack from the side and then jumped up with a spinning kick aiming from behind Nikaido blocked everything. But there was one difference from their fights a few weeks ago. Nikaido really had to block serious and go in a defense stance or he would lose balance.

Kentaro jumped up and tried to grab Nikaido from behind to somehow throw him to the ground, but Nikaido saw it coming turned around and grabbed him instead. But they were fighting so often that Kentaro knew that he wanted to throw him over the shoulder so he twisted himself out his grip to the other one's surprise and there was his chance. As he had jumped up spinning away from him his kick hit Nikaido for the first time and the latter had to take a few steps back.

Kentaro stared at him almost shocked, while Nikaido put his hands to his stomach, not because it hurt, but because he couldn't believe that he had really done it.

Both looked confused to the side of the ring as they heard people clapping their hands. Almost the whole training room had stopped fighting to watch their fight, but they hadn’t even realized it. But now Ueda, Taiga and a few of the others have started clapping their hands and cheering for Kentaro.

Senga had just moved up his arms, but before he could clap along his eyes met Nikaido's.

"If you do that I am seriously going to kill you." Nikaido hissed at him and Senga bit his lip slowly taking his hands down again.

"Nikaido, are you getting weaker?" Fuma asked teasing, but as Nikaido's death glare hit him he automatically stepped behind Hokuto who scolded him for saying something in the first place.

"Or Kentaro just got pretty good really fast." Tegoshi said with a smile facing Kentaro who seemed still confused, as if he didn't even realize that he had really hit him.

"Or Nikaido isn't taking this serious enough." Ueda said with a lopsided smile and the others chuckled looking from one to the other. But before Nikaido could get really angry Ueda dismissed everyone.

"You want to take a shower? I'll go with you." Taiga asked as almost everyone had left the room. Kentaro nodded slowly getting ready to leave the room together with Taiga as he did all these days, but before he could leave the ring Nikaido's hand landed on his shoulder.

"You can leave first, Taiga. I will take care of him today."

The two boys exchanged a brief look before Taiga nodded and left the room without giving Kentaro the chance to follow him. Taiga knew that look on Nikaido's face and he was angry and he could understand why. While Kentaro trusted Taiga and clinked to him for the last days without a break, he didn't go to Nikaido's private lessons at all and tried to stay away from most of the others as well.

"Time for our training." Nikaido said serious as they were alone.

"We were training for an eternity already, let's just call it a day."

Again Kentaro tried to get out the ring, but this time Nikaido grabbed his arm with so much force that Kentaro gasped on the sudden pain.

"I won't let you run away all the time." Nikaido yelled ad him suddenly.

"I'm not running away." Kentaro replied angry trying to rip his arm out his grip, but he froze as Nikaido grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head up. Their lips were just a few inches apart and for a moment it seemed fine until Kentaro tried to struggle. Of course Nikaido wouldn't let him go and it made everything even worse for Kentaro. The feelings and pictures came back as Nikaido pushed him into the ropes trying to stay as close as possible.

"Nikaido, please let go." Kentaro's anger had vanished completely and was replaced by fear. He had to try hard to not start crying, but Nikaido lifted his head up again as he tried to look away.

"When I let go, you start running again."

"I told you I would need time!" Kentaro shouted again trying to push Nikaido away on his shoulders, but the latter leaned forward until his lips were almost on his ignoring his struggling, but Kentaro let out a small scream as he got almost hysteric trying to somehow get out of his grip.

"Why are you struggling in the first place?" Nikaido asked shouting, finally giving him a little bit space, but still holding on to him. "You said you are not running away and this is payment."

Kentaro froze to the spot and looked at him with wide eyes, but Nikaido didn't even seem to realize what he had just said or he just didn't care.

"Then maybe we should stop all this, payment time is over!" Kentaro finally freed himself and jumped out the ring, but before he could reach the door Nikaido had caught up to him and turned him around again.

“Kentaro, stop this nonsense!”

"Let go!"

"No I won't, not before you stop behaving like this!"

"Behaving like what? Scared? Hurt?" Kentaro let out something between a sob and a chuckle shaking his head. "You are unbelievable! First you help me and care for me, just to turn back into your arrogant and insensitive self I hated from the first day! How could I think it was worth trusting you?" Kentaro turned around before Nikaido could see the tears glittering in his eyes.

Nikaido seemed startled for a moment as if he didn't get why Kentaro got so angry at him. But he rushed after him anyways trying to stop him again.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kentaro slashed wild around him while Nikaido tried to somehow make him hold still. 

"WOULD YOU BOTH CUT IT OUT?"

From one second to the other Nikaido's hands were gone and he had stepped away from Kentaro, which looked at a really pissed Senga standing in the open door.

"Kentaro how about you leave first? I bet Taiga is waiting for you.”

Kentaro nodded not even trying to hide the tears, which were rolling down his cheeks as he passed Senga rushing out the door.

"Kentaro!" Nikaido wanted to run after him, but Senga blocked his way.

"Out of my way!" Even though his voice sounded dangerous, Senga wouldn't move, instead he raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know I didn't like what is going on between you two from the very start and it is not my business-"

"Right it isn't, so out of my way!" Nikaido tried to push Senga to the side, but Senga pushed him backwards instead.

"Would you just shut up for a moment? Do you really think Kentaro wants to talk to you when you are acting like this?"

"He is the one acting weird, not me! I just want him to realize that I am not the one he has to fear, but the one who will protect him."

"Oh and you really think this way you are archiving his trust?"

Nikaido opened his mouth to counter something, but Senga lifted his hands to shut him up. "How  about you take a closer look at both of you. Kentaro is still young, a newbie in the fight clubs, lost his family in the war and almost got raped just a few days ago, while you try to make him forget those things with force even though you see that he obviously can't handle all this right now. So tell me again who is behaving weird."

"I-, I didn't want to force anything on him- I thought it would be easier for him, if he would finally face his fears straightforward-" Nikaido's voice was shaking as he realized that even though he tried to help, he made everything worse. He turned away sighing, hiding his face in his palms for a moment.

"Nikaido, I know that you mean it good with him, but he is sensible and your way of handling things, isn't the way where he can follow. You can't make him face things the same way as you do. When he tells you that he needs time, you have to show him that you are ready to wait for him."

Nikaido sat down on the side of the ring chuckling sarcastic.

"I guess it was a stupid idea to choose being a protector in the first place." His voice suddenly sounded cold and Senga raised an eyebrow at him.

"How about you remember why you did it?"

"Because I was in the mood I guess."

"Who are you kidding here? Nikaido it was more than obviously that you didn't choose this boy just because he was a little bit interesting."

"So why did I?"

"Is that a serious question?"

Nikaido shrug his shoulders obviously not in the mood to deepen this conversation.

"He was interesting and I had a good time with him and now I think I messed everything up, so let's stop talking about it." Nikaido stood up again aiming for the door, but found himself on the ground after one step. If his cheek wouldn't burn where Senga had just punched him, he wouldn't even have known how he had ended up down there.

"You are such a blind and arrogant asshole sometimes, you know that?" Senga clenched his fists to suppress the urge to hit him again, but as Nikaido didn't react and wanted to get up again he rushed forward and sat down on top of him pressing him back to the ground with his hands clenched in the collar of his shirt.

"Senga, what the hell? Get off me!"

"Not before you admit your own feelings! As I said I don't like what you two are doing, but you are annoying when you pretend that nothing is going on."

"I still don't know what you mean."

"For god's sake, stop pretending to be that heartless. For once just say what you feel, would you?" Senga screamed at him while pulling him up on his shirt a little bit. Nikaido grabbed his arms, but he didn't seriously try to fight him off.

"I have nothing to say." Nikaido's voice was steady, but gave away that he tried to hide from his own feelings.

"NIKAIDO!"

"LET GO!" Nikaido started shouting as well, trying to push Senga off him, but Senga's anger made him stronger.

"SAY IT!"

"I LOVE HIM, OKAY? Yes I fell in love with a stupid little boy and can’t deal with it, because it’s not supposed to be like this!" For a moment both of them stayed silent and Senga finally let go of Nikaido and sat down on the ground next to him.

"Playing around with him was easy, but I can't get serious with him, especially not now that some idiot turned him into an emotional mess. It might be better for both of us, if he keeps thinking I just did all of this to mock him and now I'm tired of him. He has made enough friends, he will be fine without me."

"If you really think you two could stay away from each other, you are both stupid!" Senga said shaking his head forming a brief smile. Nikaido looked up at him confused as the latter got up and stretched out his hand to him. "How about you give him the time he asked for before you take any rushed decisions?"

Nikaido sighed, but took Senga's hand getting up as well.

"Fine, but he has to approach me again."

"He will, for sure!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would be awesome, if you could leave me a comment :D Even if it is something negative please share your thoughts, I'm always open for any kind of feedback ^_^y


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

“The tournament is in less than three weeks and I hope you all remember how important it is! Don’t slag with your training!”

Nakai was speaking for a few minutes already, but Kentaro couldn’t really spend him any attention. As every day he looked at Nikaido, but he wouldn’t get a look in return. Not even once had they spoken after that evening three weeks ago. Kentaro had asked Senga what had happened after he had left, but he wouldn’t tell him and somehow Kentaro hated himself for not approaching Nikaido on his own, but he felt like it would be the other one who should make the first step.

“Okay back to your training!” Nakai dismissed everyone and started talking to Ueda, which waved Nikaido towards him as well.

“Kentaro?” Taiga clapped him on the shoulder giving him the same worried look as every day.

“What is it?” Kentaro asked annoyed knowing of course what would follow next.

“You still have to pretend every day that it is fine like this? Why don’t you just talk to him?”

“He is the one who drove me into the corner, so he should come to me!” Kentaro walked over to the punching bags putting on the gloves, while Taiga followed him in silence giving him an annoyed look which he couldn't see.

“But you asked him to give you time and space, so he did what you asked him for.” Taiga tried again as he stepped behind the punching bag to hold it for Kentaro.

“But it seems like he wouldn’t even care that I want him around again.” Kentaro hissed before punching the bag a few times.

“Do you think he can read your mind?”

“He should be able to interpret my looks, but he is not even looking, so how would he know?” This time he punched it so hard that Taiga had to make a step backwards.

“The looks you give everyone these days are telling everyone that you are annoyed and that they should stay away, that’s all.”

“He should know better!” His punches and kicks got harder with every word and Taiga had much trouble holding the bag in place.

“You don't know how he is feeling at the moment either, because you are not talking to him. You are as stubborn as he is!”

“I AM NOT STUBBORN!” The spinning kick he landed on the bag this time lifted Taiga off his feet and crushed him into the wall behind him with a gasp.

“Oh shit, Taiga. Sorry, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but I hope you got my point!” He rubbed the back of his head as Kentaro helped him up again. He nodded slowly realizing that was right. Even though he felt more than left alone and wanted Nikaido by his side, his own pride kept him away from him.

"So are you going to talk to him?" Taiga asked impatiently before Kentaro could change his mind.

"Yes I will, stop bugging." Kentaro turned around to search for Nikaido who was still talking to Ueda, but it didn't look like a nice conversation. He was waving around with his arms almost furiously and Ueda tried to calm him down, to no avail. Ueda looked at the boys over Nikaido's shoulder and Kentaro could see that something wasn't right. As Nikaido turned around as well and their eyes finally met the boy felt like something really unpleasant was about to happen.

"Oh, that's not good!" Taiga let out in a worried tone.

"What do you mean? Taiga when you know what is going on, tell me!" Kentaro pulled on Taiga's sleeve impatiently as he realized that he knew at least something about what they were talking about.

"They are leaving us alone."

"What do you mean? Could you be a little bit more detailed?"

Taiga took Kentaro by the shoulders making the older one flinch on his sudden harsh behavior.

"Kentaro, think for just a second, would you! What do you think I mean? I bet Ueda is going for scouting or something like that and Nikaido is going with him this time."

"Why should he?"

"Look at him! I don't know the reason, but this look obviously tells us that something is going on and you should ask him what, because this time it could get even worse and I don't have to remember you of the time before when Ueda wasn't around, right? And this time Nikaido won't be either."

Kentaro swallowed heavy as realization finally took over him. Nikaido looked at Ueda again and even though Kentaro couldn't hear what he was saying he could see that it was definitely not nice. He rushed out the training room leaving everyone staring after him. Ueda walked over to them and stopped in front of Taiga, which looked more relaxed than he should be.

Ueda looked at Kentaro for a brief moment and gave him a small supporting smile before he turned to Taiga. But before he could say anything Taiga had lifted a hand.

"Don't even say it. I don't want to hear that you are sorry, this is your job so you have no reason to be sorry that you have to go out sometimes, it's called life."

Ueda chuckled sarcastically and maybe even a bit hurt knowing that even though Taiga acted tough he was of course aware of the eyes looking at them already.

"But why Nikaido? You don't need him for scouting." Taiga asked instead of Kentaro, which was still in shock that he would be without his protector for the first time.

"We are not going for scouting, but for the Tokyo east club."

"What, why?"

"Nakai insisted that I and Nikaido come with him for some kind of greeting before the tournament."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Kentaro asked, finally getting a grip on himself.

"Normally not, but having Nikaido with us could turn it into a dangerous situation. Maybe you should speak to him before we leave."

"That would be when?" Taiga asked curious making a step towards Ueda, revealing that he really didn't want him to leave.

"Tomorrow afternoon. We will return in two days."

"Kentaro, it really might be the best if you go after Nikaido, he might do something stupid at the other club in this state when you let him go like this." Taiga insisted as well.

"Go after him! I bet he headed to his quarter." Both boys stared at Ueda perplexed, but Ueda just stepped behind Kentaro and pushed him forward a little bit.

"I will give you a special permission for tonight, not that you care if I do or not, because someone who breaks the rules shouldn't make others protect them, right?" Kentaro nodded slowly not sure if Ueda was making fun of himself or not, but for now he decided to just go and see if he could somehow talk to him without the conversation escalating again.

***

He knocked twice and waited. For a moment nothing happened, but when he was about to knock again the lock was heard and the door slowly opened.

"You are not supposed to be here." Nikaido said scolding, but stepped aside at the same moment so Kentaro could walk inside.

"I have a special permission from Ueda." Kentaro said turning around to Nikaido, who had closed the door leaning against it. He raised an eyebrow on that statement, but didn't say anything.

"So I heard you have to go to the Tokyo east club tomorrow?"

"As if I would have a choice, it's Nakai's order."

"It will be fine, don't worry."

Nikaido chuckled bitterly before he walked through the room sitting down on the side of his bed. Kentaro followed him and sat down next to him intuitively as if he had forgotten that they had fought before.

"Which part do you mean? Me being fine in front of those arrogant bastards, which I would like to punch every time or you being fine staying behind alone? Kentaro who are we kidding, this is the worst for both of us."

"I still have Taiga, Fuma and the others here, Senga is also around, it will be fine and you have Ueda with you."

"Oh trust me, Ueda has enough trouble to stay calm himself in front of them, he won't have time to calm me down."

"Then how about you think of me, every time you are about to lose you calm?" Kentaro put his hand over Nikaido's which he had clenched into the sheets. He meant what he said and he was happy that Nikaido's look wasn't mocking, so he really considered it a good idea.

"So how are you, anyways?" Nikaido finally asked carefully.

"Better, I guess-." Kentaro stroke a strand of hair from Nikaido's forehead and smiled at him. "I'm sorry for making you wait so long. I shouldn't have run away like this all the time, you were right."

Nikaido didn't answer instead he put his hands on Kentaro's cheeks and moved closer carefully. Kentaro closed his eyes and as Nikaido's lips finally found his again his whole body felt like it would be on fire. He responded right away, sitting up on his knees on the bed putting his hands to the latter's hair. Nikaido smiled against his lips on his demanding attitude, but let himself drop on the bed so that Kentaro could crawl on top of him.

"So I guess you don't want me to give you space anymore?"

"Shut up or I might change my mind."

Nikaido chuckled and turned them around so fast that Kentaro lost orientation for a moment. He held the boy down on his shoulders, but Kentaro didn't struggle, because this time Nikaido's look showed something playful for the first time and it made him relax.

"But that still doesn't mean, that you are allowed to get cocky now. You might regret it."

"So what will you do, if I get too cocky?" Kentaro asked with a lopsided smile stroking over Nikaido's cheek with the tip of his fingers, but the latter tried not to react even though it was obvious that he enjoyed it.

"Maybe I will just change my payment to money then."

"Oh and you think that wouldn't be a punishment for yourself as well?"

Nikaido chuckled finally cracked a smile again, this one bright smile Kentaro longed for to see all the time and suddenly he felt more than stupid for staying away from him, because he should have known from the start that it would hurt himself as well. He could have just left the club if he would have wanted to, but it was Nikaido who made him stay. His presence made it almost impossible to even think about leaving. There was nothing left for him out there anyways and even though someone like Nikaido had found a special kind of interest in him all he thought of until now was his own stupid pride. Sure he still felt scared and every move Nikaido made, each touch on his skin had two sides. The pleasured and excited side, as well as the one which screamed at him to get away. But he didn't want to lose against his own weakness again. Their type of relationship was forbidden and he didn't know himself how to feel about it, but he was sure that he didn't want to run away anymore.

“Is the training over already?”

“I guess so, why?” Kentaro looked a little bit perplexed on Nikaido’s sudden question, but the latter's smile grew even wider as he lifted himself off the bed.

“I have a favor to ask of you!” Nikaido said as he stood up and held out his hand to Kentaro who took it looking at him a little bit confused.

“Now I’m curious!” He said with a brief smile before following Nikaido out of the room.

They sneaked back to the training room carefully trying not get seen, because having permission from Ueda didn’t mean that they wouldn’t get punished if someone else would see them and report it to Nakai.

The training room was already empty and Nikaido closed the door carefully while Kentaro waited for him to finally tell him why they came here.

“I hope you are not telling me to train or I will get more than just angry.”

“You dislike our training that much?”

“No, but I think at the moment you would completely ruin my mood with it and I would kick your ass.”

“Oh, now that you hit me once you think you can beat me? Wow that I call overconfident!”

Nikaido shook his head, but was still smiling at him and for a moment Kentaro wondered if this smile was something new or if it was long forgotten through the war and just showed up through Kentaro again. Whichever it was Kentaro was happy that he was the reason Nikaido showed this side to him may it a new or a recovered side of him.

“So when it is not training, what could this mysterious favor be?”

Nikaido walked over to the ring to get one of the stools out of it. He sat down on it and looked at Kentaro who still remained in the middle of the room.

“We both don’t know what tomorrow will bring and even if it somehow works out without problems this time, we don’t know how it will be next time, this is what the life in a fight club is about. Every fight could be our last, every time we leave each other’s side we won’t know if the other one returns!”

His serious words made Kentaro shiver, but he didn’t interrupt him.

“I am a really impatient person I guess you have realized that already.”

This time it was Kentaro who cracked a smile and couldn’t suppress a small chuckle, while Nikaido smiled on his own words as well.

“And I do a lot of things which bring me into trouble especially when it is about other clubs, but maybe I found something that is worth trying to change myself.”

“That would be?” Kentaro knew the answer of course, but he wanted him to say it. He bit his lip as Nikaido didn’t give him an answer right away. Instead he shook his head as if he couldn’t believe himself how ridiculous sweet he must sound at the moment. He stood up again and approached the boy slowly. He stopped right in front of him and put one hand on the latter’s cheek and leant in for a long passionate kiss, which made Kentaro almost lose his mind. He fisted Nikaido’s shirt, but didn’t stop him as he backed off again.

“I found you!” Nikaido said with a light smile and even though it was obviously that he felt more than embarrassed about his own words Kentaro would never laugh at him, because this side of him he loved the most. He never knew when he would smile at him, talk about his feelings or even do things he would normally never do in front of someone except for Kentaro of course.

Nikaido let go of him and walked back to his chair, sitting down with a kind of serious look.

“As long as I have you waiting here for me I will think twice about the consequences of my actions and I would wish for one more thing I can remember of each time I have to calm myself down.”

“I’m all yours, just tell me.” Kentaro said still curious about what his request would be.

“Would you dance for me?”

Kentaro’s eyes went wide on his sudden request and even though he opened his mouth no words would come out. He was sure that he had heard right, but this was the last thing he thought Nikaido could be interested in.

“If you don’t want to it's fine, just if you feel like it.” Nikaido put one hand in his hair looking a little bit uncomfortable after Kentaro’s not really clear reaction.

“No-, I mean, yes- Of course, I would love to!” Kentaro stuttered nervously after he had realized that his confusion might seem like a refusal to Nikaido. “I was just so surprised, you know. Since the war I haven’t really danced at all anymore or at least not in front of someone. It really makes me happy that you want to see it!” Kentaro formed a really bright smile as he realized himself that he sounded totally nervous and his voice was shaking. “Sorry, I must sound completely weird. I should just shut up.”

“You are unbelievable cute right now, do you know that?”

“What?”

“I won’t say it again, it is a miracle that you make me say things like this at all, but repeating them would be too much!”

They both started laughing at their awkward conversation before Nikaido leaned back on his stool resting his back on the edge of the ring.

“The stage is all yours.” He finally said waiting for Kentaro to start on his own timing.

“There is still something missing.” Kentaro turned away from him and walked over to the table with the water bottles. On the side of the table there was an old radio, which they rarely used, but now it was finally of some use. Kentaro searched for a program and as he finally found one which played music he went back in front of Nikaido.

“I’ll just warn you, my dancing style is not really traditional. My teacher was sure that it would get really popular over the time. His dancing was really special and kind of unusual for Japan and even though I'm not sure if he was right for me it is a really fascinating style.”

“Trust me I will be the last one to judge you for your dancing. I can only tell you how bad you are at fighting.”

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me again.”

A new song started and Kentaro got in his start position, which looked a little bit like ballet, but not that static. The song was fast and matched Kentaro’s movements perfect or it was Kentaro who matched the rhythm, Nikaido couldn’t tell.

Even though he moved a lot, stopped abrupt to turn around and bend in almost unnatural ways it all seemed way too fascinating to Nikaido to find it weird. He recognized a few of the moves Kentaro had used at his fights before, but now that he could move freely and hadn't to match them towards his opponents attacks, they looked even more stunning. He had never seen this style of dancing before and he felt completely absorbed by it. Maybe it was the dancing itself, but maybe it was Kentaro who made him feel this fascinated, but whatever it was Nikaido liked it. As Kentaro stopped his movements perfectly on the last tone of the song a few sweat drops ran down his face dropping to the floor while he took another long breath freezing in his end position for a moment before he turned towards Nikaido with a kind of embarrassed smile.

“I have forgotten how exhausting this can be!” Kentaro said laughing as he grabbed his towel next to Nikaido to put it around his neck as he sat down on the ground in front of him. “And?” He asked with a curious look as Nikaido didn’t react at all.

“And what?”

“What do you think of it?”

Nikaido chuckled a little bit looking up to the ceiling as if he would think about it for a moment.

“Oh come on, you have to have any kind of opinion about it, right?” Kentaro pulled on the fabric of Nikaido’s pants as he still didn’t answer. “Nikaido!” With a sulky tone he tried to make him react and it finally worked. Nikaido chuckled again as he looked down at Kentaro with this amazing smile of his. He slid down from the stool to sit down in front of the boy, which couldn’t get his eyes off him.

“It was special, as you said! But it was something I will never forget and it will definitely help me to calm down when I am about to lose it.”

“Why does my dancing helps you with that?”

“Not sure, maybe it just works when you are dancing, but it works somehow.”

“Not a really good explanation, you know!” Kentaro said kind of disappointed crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“So what calms you down?”

Kentaro thought about the question for a moment even though he had his answer right in front of him and the heat was crawling its way up his cheeks again.

“Your smile…” He whispered kind of embarrassed facing the ground until Nikaido lifted his face up with his hand under his chin.

“Then I will stay calm through your dancing and you stay strong through my smile until I come back, promise?”

Kentaro smiled at him briefly before they both leant forward meeting halfway for a kiss. Nikaido knew better than to overstrain Kentaro after he finally found the strength to get back to this point, so he backed off after a moment.

Kentaro bit his lip looking up at him as if he wasn’t sure himself, if he wanted to stop at this tonight. Nikaido ruffled through the boy’s hair and gave him another bright smile before they finally decided to leave the training room and prepare for the next two days, both in their own way.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

“Are you not going to say something?”

“Like what? Bye honey, I will miss you!” Taiga burst out laughing on his own words, but Kentaro could just give him a brief smile before he looked back at Nikaido who stood next to the door with Ueda waiting for Nakai.

They hadn't really talked much for the whole day and even though they kind of said everything that was to say Kentaro felt kind of nervous about his protector leaving like this.

“Don't look like this, it will be fine!”

“It wasn't fine last time either!”

“Wow you are so optimistic, you know!” Taiga clapped him on the shoulder comforting, but even his smile faded as their protectors were obviously about to leave as Nakai showed up. Ueda turned around to them first nodding once and getting a brief nod from Taiga in return. Kentaro wondered how both of them could be so relaxed about the whole situation or at least pretend to be fine with it even though it had turned out pretty bad last time Ueda had left.

Nakai and Ueda were already out the room as Nikaido stopped and turned towards the boys. He couldn’t form a smile and Kentaro could see the worry in his eyes. It was the first time that Nikaido was protecting someone so they didn’t know what would happen when he would leave Kentaro alone. But Nikaido nodded towards him once before he turned around again resting his eyes on Senga and Tegoshi for a moment nodding at them as well before he left without another word.

“Here we go, let the chaos start!” Taiga said way too enthusiastic making Kentaro raise an eyebrow at him.

“If you want to get beaten up that badly I can do it for you!”

“Sorry, but that is not on the training’s schedule today!” Both boys looked up at Senga who had this one look which they hated, because it meant he had plans for them, horrible ones.

“Why did they have to choose you for the training?” Kentaro asked worried, but Senga’s lopsided smile showed him that he couldn’t care less about his opinion.

“Taiga you can team up with Tegoshi for some tactic training and Kentaro-”

“Don’t pause like that, it makes me nervous!” Kentaro hissed annoyed seeing how Senga enjoyed it to be the trainer for the next two days. “You will have some special stamina training with me and Fuma in the ring!”

“EH?” Kentaro looked from him to Fuma, which had the same amused expression as Senga on his face.

“Great, so when I get killed in those two days, Nikaido won't even be angry, because it was his best friend killing me!”

“Trust me if you survive the training, you will be thankful to me later!”

“Please just leave the IF out the next time, okay?”

Fuma approached him laughing and put his arm around Kentaro's shoulder to drag him over to the ring and even though he was more than nervous about what kind of training this would be, he was thankful that they obviously tried to distract both of them as good as possible.

***

"You seem kind of exhausted?" Taiga said teasing as Kentaro let himself drop on the chair at one of the tables of their so called dinner room. There were like a dozen tables inside the room and a open kitchen unit at the side. Except for the higher classes most of them made their meals here, because it would be too expensive to go out all the time. The money they got from their fights wasn't enough to effort that.

"Exhausted? More like half dead, it didn't feel like training, but like those two had a nice day beating me up." Kentaro moved his shoulder in small circles carefully, which Fuma had almost dislocated before.

"Hey you stood a good chance against them, okay until you got knocked out." Taiga replied teasing covering his mouth with his hand to hide his smile.

"Great, that was so comforting of you. But at least like this the rest of the day passed by fast."

"To be honest I think that was exactly what they aimed for."

"Maybe Tegoshi and the others, but Senga? He is not even appreciating what Nikaido and I have going on."

"But he is still Nikaido's friend."

Kentaro still couldn't believe that Senga would try to help him just because of that. Sure he was Nikaido's friend, but that didn't make him his friend and all in all he didn't seem to be the carrying type anyways.

Kentaro tried to not think about it too much, because his thoughts drifted towards Nikaido again. Instead he stood up to bring his tablet back to the kitchen corner. Taiga followed him walking passed a few tables as he suddenly stumbled over a leg, which of course wasn't there by coincidence. He found his balance right in time before he hit the ground, but his tablet crushed down with a clinging noise as the cup and the dish on it broke into small pieces.

"Oh look what you have done!" The one who had made him fall said teasing. There were just about a handful of other fighters in the room and luckily most of them were people which mind their own business. But this boy and his friend next to him were new and obviously tried to test out their limits right away.

"Taiga, are you okay?" Kentaro turned back right away starting to pick up the pieces from the ground.

"Don't worry, it's alright." Taiga crouched down helping him, but stopped as the boy behind him started laughing.

"The perfect picture! You know girls shouldn't fight, but clean up, so this is exactly where you belong."

In a blink of an eye Taiga's look turned dark, as dark as Kentaro had never seen it before.

"Oh what is it? Don't you want to say something or are you already crying little girl?" The boy continued his mocking without any kind of guilt in his voice.

Taiga grabbed the piece of the cup he wanted to pick up so tight that blood started running down his fingers. Kentaro held his breath, but didn't even try to calm him down somehow he knew it wouldn't work anyways.

"Don't be so mean to him, Juri! Or he will really start crying!" His friend said, but Juri got up ignoring his friend and approached Taiga instead. Kentaro jumped up, but Juri stopped the moment Kentaro's eyes met his. Juri had of course realized that Kentaro would definitely attack him, if he would make another step.

"Woah, calm down. As the rumors say you are really jumpy and it seems they were right. They also say you have a special thing with your protector."

Kentaro clenched his fists, but as he was about to lose it he remembered their promise to lay low for those days. He took a deep breath before he just continued helping Taiga cleaning up.

"Come on, they don't seem worth your effort." His friend said, finally getting up as well.

“Kochi, you are really too nice, you know that!” Juri said chuckling, but kind of disappointed as he wanted to leave with Kochi, but then he stopped and turned around again. He leant down towards Taiga a little bit and spoke over his shoulder. "Oh there is another rumor, about our trainer having you as his boy for special times."

Taiga closed his eyes and Kentaro looked at his bleeding hand, which he clenched again still holding the broken cup.

"Oh I'm sorry, I mean his GIRL for special times!" Juri smirked and wanted to back off again, but the moment he tapped Taiga on the shoulder Taiga jumped up and swirled around slashing him with the broken piece through the face.

"TAIGA!" Kentaro jumped up as well and got a grip on Taiga the moment he had kicked Juri away so hard that Kochi had to catch him.

"LET GO, I'm going to kill him."

"Taiga calm down, you know exactly what will happen if you do!" Kentaro tried hard to calm him down, but Taiga had suddenly developed an enormous kind of strength. Juri cursed as he got up again the blood dripping from his face to the ground. The wound wasn’t deep, but long and reached almost completely over his face and missed his eyes just by inches.

"You are going to pay for this!" Juri yelled and even though Kochi didn't seem to have the intention to interfere he just let go of his friend letting him do as he pleased. The other fighters were watching them kind of amused instead of stopping or helping them, but Kentaro was afraid that if it would come to a testimony they would testify against them, because truth was that Taiga started this.

Kentaro pulled Taiga backwards as Juri tried to attack and pushed him away so that he would stand between them. Juri didn't seem to mind who he would attack, so he threw punches at Kentaro, but luckily the boy didn’t seem to take Kentaro as a serious opponent, so he had no trouble at all to dodge all his attacks and move around him until he finally got a grip on his arms as he was standing behind him. He kicked him against the back of his knee so he lost balance. He was still cursing as Kentaro turned his arms on his back, but like this he was at least immobile for now.

"Just stop this nonsense and I will let go!" Kentaro shouted at Juri and looked over to Taiga with a worried look, but he was relieved to see that he had calmed down at least a little bit. He had crossed his arms in front of his chest and kicked a few chairs away, but better the chairs than Juri.

"Let go, so we can settle this!" Juri hissed at Kentaro, but he wouldn't let go off him.

"There is nothing to settle! You pissed us off with your stupid provocation and now you have to deal with the consequences."

"WATCH OUT!" Taiga shouted out for him so sudden that Kentaro was totally confused about what was going on. He looked at Taiga first who looked behind him and obviously wanted to interfere, but he wouldn't make it in time. Kentaro let go of Juri to turn around to see what was going on. Kochi had lunged out with a chair aiming for Kentaro, so much to his knowledge of human nature that he didn't seem to want to interfere.

Kentaro raised his arms, but he knew that he had not enough time to jump away. He closed his eyes, but the impact he heard wasn't on his arms and it was Kochi who screamed out suddenly. As Kentaro opened his eyes again Kochi was lying on the ground. There was a second chair lying over him and for a moment Kentaro didn't get what was going on anymore.

“Playtime is over!” Senga shouted from the other side of the room holding his arms still up showing that he had been the one throwing the chair.

“Don't interfere!” Juri shouted annoyed getting up and approaching Senga with big steps.

“You are the one interfering! I don't want fighting idiots around when I come to have a nice meal.”

“Who do you think you are to play that high and mighty?” Juri asked angry as he stopped right in front of Senga pushing him backwards a little bit. Kentaro was a little bit worried that the situation would completely escalate now, but when he looked over to Taiga and saw his lopsided smile he knew that Senga would solve this more or less quietly.

“You didn't attend the training until now and you think you can run around beating up others? Who is the one being high and mighty here?”

“You are talking too much, gorilla face!” Juri lunged out for a punch, but Senga blocked it by stopping it with on his palm like it would be nothing.

“What did you just say?”

"I would say he sealed his fate!" Taiga said with a satisfied laughter and Kentaro buried his face in his hands with a sigh knowing what would follow now.

"I'll get easy on you, because you two are new, but maybe a punishment will help you to concentrate more at your first training with me tomorrow!"

Juri's eyes went wide as he realized that Senga was the one in charge of their training, but he couldn't react anymore as Senga threw him over the shoulder so that he crushed into the next table.

“How about you all make yourself useful and get those two to the med room?” Senga hissed in a dangerous voice towards the few fighters which were sitting in the room ignoring the whole situation until now, but on Senga's “request” they got the boys back on their feet to bring them out the room.

“I hate those idiots!” Senga said as everyone had left the room except for Taiga and Kentaro.

“They are new, they want to test their limits.” Kentaro said kind of understanding.

“No I don’t mean just those two, but all of them! Having your little “group” is normal down here, if you are not a complete lone wolf of course, but not interfering at all is a cowardly act to me.”

Kentaro was impressed by his words and he was wondering if he had misjudged him after all.

“Clean up and then you should leave for your rooms, it’s already late!” Senga moved over to the kitchen corner before he turned around again.

“Oh and Taiga! Next time use your fists or I might have to punish you as well!”

Taiga nodded in silence knowing that he was serious about that and Kentaro could see that he felt stupid for overreacting that much, but maybe there was more behind that reaction as he was willing to tell, but he would ask him another time. For now he helped him to clean up as fast as possible so he could treat his still bleeding hand afterwards.

***

The next day’s training started quite early and continued in the afternoon after just a small lunch break in which Kentaro and Taiga had sat together with Hokuto and Fuma talking about the upcoming tournament.

For the afternoon training Taiga and Kentaro were on the punching bag for quite a while, with Taiga holding it, because he couldn't really punch with his hurt hand. Unfortunately the two new boys were right next to them and one hateful glare followed the other. But Kentaro couldn`t stop himself from grinning from time to time, because their training in the morning was full of holding themselves up in a pushup stand, running in circles until they would almost throw up and a lot more mean exercises, which made clear that Senga knew how to punish people.

“Concentrate!” He shouted at Juri, which had the face half taped through the cut he got from Taiga, but Senga wouldn't let him rest just because of it. It wasn't that deep after all and as long as no one would punch him, it shouldn't start bleeding again. “And you, come here!” He pointed at Kochi who stepped forward slowly. “Kentaro, you too!”

Kentaro looked at him confused, but did as he said.

“Off into the ring with you two!”

Kentaro turned towards Taiga asking with his look if this was a joke, but he just shrugged with his shoulders also not knowing why Senga asked them to fight. But on the other hand Kentaro was happy that it was him and Kochi, because Juri and Taiga were still throwing daggers at each other with their eyes, if they would fight now, they would definitely kill each other.

“Oh this is something I really don’t want to miss!” Hokuto shouted excited as he stepped next to the ring together with Fuma at his side.

“Maybe you want to fight instead of me then? Thanks to those two my whole body still hurts from the training yesterday!” Kentaro said judging, pointing at Fuma and Senga as he walked up towards Kochi in the ring.

“It’s way more fun to watch you, instead of fighting myself!” Hokuto replied sticking out his tongue.

“If you are done with teasing, can we continue the training?” Senga interfered waiting for Kentaro to concentrate again.

“Kochi, you have fought before as I heard, right?”

The boy nodded slowly obviously feeling way too nervous about the situation. On the contrary to Juri, who was lost it easily and didn't hold back at all either with his fists nor with his words, Kochi's attitude wasn't that open what made it harder for Kentaro to read him. 

“What, are you kidding me? Little twerp was a fighter before, don’t make me laugh!” Fuma laughed sarcastic getting a slap on the back of his head from Tegoshi which had stopped next to him.

“You should know that the appearance doesn’t show how good someone is at fighting!”

“But he tried to throw a chair at Kentaro yesterday, what kind of fighting is that?” Hokuto tried to counter.

“Taiga sliced him through the face with a cup!” Tegoshi said without any hesitation pointing at Taiga and Juri. “That is also not really the fighting style of his, but if you piss people off or if they want to protect their friends they react fast and not always logical.”

Taiga shifted impatient on Tegoshi’s words and again Kentaro could see that there was definitely something behind his reaction on Juri's words.

“Thank you Tegoshi for your input, but could we continue now or do you all want to train an extra hour?”

“The ring is all yours!” Tegoshi said with an expression, which made Fuma and Hokuto chuckle, because he was obviously not in the shape to train another hour.

“Kentaro, there is a rule for you in this fight!” Senga continued facing the two boys again.

“Eh? Why just for me?”

“Because I want to test what Kochi can do and if you don’t cooperate I can’t do that. So you are forbidden to attack straight or knock him out! You can block and counter if necessary, but not more!”

“Now I feel like the one getting punished!” Kentaro whispered to himself, but of course Senga had heard him raising an eyebrow looking at him with a dangerous glare.

“Got it, fine! Whatever you say!” Kentaro raised his arms in apology. He wasn’t really happy about Senga’s training from the beginning, but he knew that Ueda and Nikaido would be back the next day, so he would just try to somehow get this training over with and somehow survive the training the next morning.

“Okay, then start!”

“Wait, am I not getting any information about his fighting style or class?”

“Find out yourself!”

Kentaro turned towards Kochi, but he still couldn’t believe that the boy could actually fight at all. Nothing on the boy could tell him what kind of fighting style he used or how good he was. He wasn’t extreme muscular nor did he look kind of dangerous. Kentaro growled in annoyance, but finally got into a defense stance. “Then come on let’s get this over with!”

Kochi looked over to Juri, but his friend didn’t seem worried at all. He crossed his arms in front of his chest shaking his head on his friend's worried look. “Kochi, would you just do something? If you don’t fight we all have to train longer!”

“What a nice friend you are!” Taiga said between gritted teeth, like he had tried to shut himself up, but couldn’t. All he got was a hateful side glance from Juri before he turned back to Kochi. “Come on, show them what you got!” He didn’t smile and his words didn’t sound that enthusiastic, but Kochi just nodded turning back to Kentaro. Kochi approached him slowly knowing that Kentaro wasn’t allowed to run away from him or attack straight. Kentaro cursed as he made a step backwards naturally trying to stop his own body from moving.

“Come on Kentaro, you don’t have to be afraid!” Fuma shouted, but the next moment Kochi lunged out for a punch and it came so fast that Kentaro had almost no time to block it. As he had stopped his fist barely in time Kochi’s other fist collided with his cheekbone. The punch wasn’t too hard, so it didn’t lift him off his feet, but the surprise was written on his face. Fuma’s and Hokuto’s jaws had dropped down as they seemed as surprised as anyone else, except for Senga and Juri.

But Kentaro had no time to relax or try to analyze his fighting style, because Kochi had stepped back, just to attack with a kick this time and again Kentaro could stop it just in time and as another kick followed he was prepared to block it as well, but the second kick was just a distraction to make him focus on his legs. As he moved down a little bit Kochi hit him on his neck with his elbow crushing Kentaro down on the ground.

“What the hell is going on? His attacks are coming out of nowhere!” He yelled as he got up again, needing some time to find his orientation. He couldn't read Kochi's movements at all and the fact that he kept a neutral face through all his attacks didn't help either.

“There you have his fighting style!” Senga explained, but it was obvious that no one really understood what he meant. “Kochi is an awesome strategist when it comes to fighting. He learns techniques by just watching people fight and then uses the best way to defend himself.”

“So you are telling me that you analyzed my movements that fast even though everything I did was blocking?” Kentaro asked Kochi direct this time and the boy nodded.

“Told you that you can’t judge fighters by their appearance!” Tegoshi said smiling gaining a grown from Fuma who left the side of the ring together with Hokuto saying that he wanted to train a little bit more, but truth was that he wasn’t in the mood to get called into the ring as well.

Juri smiled triumphing at Taiga as if he would have just proven that they were both awesome fighters, even though he didn’t do anything at all.

“Don’t get this wrong, Juri you are going to fight as well, but not today! As soon as your wound is healed I have you fight against Taiga.”

“WHAT? Why me?”

“Because you are the same fighting class, that’s all. You are done for now, back to training!” Senga sent Kochi and Juri back to the punching bags waving Taiga into the ring.

“I hope I made my point clear! I know that those two pissed you off before, but remember that they are also strong! All four of your are just in the 2nd class until now, but those two are on their best way to change into the 3rd one after the next tournament so just get a grip on yourselves until tomorrow evening and stay out of their way okay?”

“Sure Kochi seems pretty awesome, but I’m not that sure about Juri!” Taiga said annoyed looking over to them as Juri punched the bag.

“I wouldn’t underestimate him just because you think he is just cool words!”

“What do you mean?” Kentaro asked curious looking over to Juri who had continued his training with Kochi again.

“Let’s say if he wouldn’t have to hold back, because of his injury this bag wouldn’t even hang there anymore.”

Taiga looked over to Juri sceptic, seeing that his punches where really powerful and if Senga was right and he held back then it could maybe really be dangerous to get hit by a straight punch of his, but Taiga didn’t want to spend him too much attention.

“Why are they here anyways?” Kentaro asked Senga as they all three stepped out the ring.

“Ueda and Nakai scouted them for the next tournament, as I said they are better than you might think and you might even get along better after a while.”

“Never.” Taiga and Kentaro said at the same time, but Senga just shook his head with a small chuckle.

“You are as stubborn as they are, best friendship material!”

Both boys looked at him questioning, but Senga made them go back to training instead of discussing this topic any further.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

Kentaro was more than happy as he finally dropped on his bed ready to fall asleep right away. But after he had already drifted off into a light sleep someone knocked on his door and for a moment he thought about ignoring it being way too exhausted, but when it knocked again he finally got up. If it would be Taiga having trouble he would blame himself the next day for not helping him, even though he doubted that Taiga would just knock and not shout out for him. But Kentaro was way too tired to think about stuff like that.

He had just turned the knob and before he could even look outside someone kicked the door open with so much force that Kentaro was thrown to the ground hitting his head on the side of the bed. As he had blinked away the stars in front of his eyes he saw how the two boys which had attacked him and Taiga a while ago as Ueda was out for scouting, were standing in front of him. The smaller one closed the door locking it right away, while the other one stepped over Kentaro lifting him up on his collar.

"Long time no see." He said in dangerous tone and Kentaro asked himself how they could be so stupid and attack him again, but sure this time he was alone so they had no reason to worry about a punishment or at least no official one, because if Nikaido would find out about this he wouldn't need someone to testify, he would punish them anyway. But that wouldn't help Kentaro at the moment, he had to do something by himself and that would be reaching the door for now.

“You have to be kidding me! How many bad things can happen in just two days?” Kentaro whispered to himself before he faced the one in front of him grabbing his wrists. "What do you want?"

"Our payback!"

"How stupid are you? You know exactly that Nikaido will punish you afterwards, with or without testimony."

"But that is later! We are talking about now and about you!" The other one stepped away from the door and Kentaro took the chance to free himself before they would both attack him. He grabbed the taller one by the hair and pulled him down kicking him against the head with his knee. As he let go of him the other one lunged out for a punch, but Kentaro was faster dodging it and throwing him over the shoulder so that he crushed into the side of his bed.

While the first one was already back on his feet, Kentaro rushed over to the door. As he had unlocked it he was pulled away from it again with hands closing around his arms and upper body.

"You little bastard, as if we would let you get away like this." But his confident talking wasn't scaring Kentaro anymore. He knew how good he had become at fighting and so he knew that he could win against those two. The one who had crushed into the bed was about to get up again, but the moment he was almost back on his feet Kentaro hit the one holding on to him with the elbow into the rips and as he had some space he kicked backwards so that he crushed into the wall. With a spinning kick he then threw the other one back against the bed. This time he managed to open the door ignoring the angry shouting behind him. The question was where he should go? He didn't want to drag Taiga in this again and he wasn't sure if Tegoshi, Fuma or the others would be in their rooms.

"Come back you little coward!" As Kentaro was at the end of the corridor they rushed out the room running after him. For just a moment he thought about running to the toilets and lock himself, but it was too dangerous to get trapped and as he passed by the shower room a shiver ran down his back as his memories tried to frighten him again.

But this time he wouldn't give up, he wouldn't let himself get scared by his past nor those two, so in the end he ran to the training room and stopped right in the middle as they both had caught up to him.

"Giving up already?"

"Just because I stop running doesn't mean that I give up. I just needed a little bit more space."

"Whatever, you can talk as big as you like, because we will make sure that you won't leave this room again."

"What did I do to you that you risk so much just to beat me up?"

The taller one chuckled shaking his head. "You and your stupid protector turned our training into hell for the last months."

"We couldn't even win our matches anymore, because Ueda’s training was just inhuman."

"That's your own fault, you were the ones attacking us."

"And you were the one hiding behind your protector." The smaller one yelled, but Kentaro raised an eyebrow at their childish behavior.

"He wasn't even my protector back then and you were running away from him without a fight, if I remember correctly."

"Enough talking, I don't care for your stupid opinion. All I want is to get my fist on your face." The taller one approached with fast steps lunging out for a punch, but it was so obviously what he was planning that Kentaro had no problem at all to dodge his attacks. Kentaro jumped back as the other one tried to kick him from the side.

"But maybe you should start talking instead of freaking out every time or the fight club is maybe not the right place for you. What will you do if Ueda throws you out this time?" 

"Oh how cute that you are worrying about us. But you should worry more about yourself!" The taller one nodded towards the other one and they came at Kentaro at the same time. Kentaro was able to block their first attacks, but he couldn't get away from them anymore as he had almost reached the wall and could feel how he got tired through their continuous attacks.

"You're open!" The smaller one shouted triumphing as he got through Kentaro's defense and kicked him into the wall so that Kentaro was out of air for a moment. The taller one tried to hold him against the wall pressing his elbow against his throat, but Kentaro had still enough strength to fight him off. He kicked him away and danced his way around them as they tried to punch him almost furiously. Their chaotic movements had no chance against his well-balanced fast steps with which he changed directions so fast that they both didn't even realize how he had made it behind them. As they swirled around he jumped up hitting them at the same time, one with his fist and the other one on the opposite side with a kick.

Kentaro was more than relieved as they both fell to the ground unconsciously. He wouldn't have hold out much longer being too exhausted from their training earlier. Even though he was more than surprised that he had stand a chance against them and that he had even won.

But for now he turned around ready to just go back into his room like nothing would have happened, because without someone to testify there was no reason to make a huge ruckus out of this, but he stopped on the spot as he had turned around and looked into two smiling faces.

"What the hell?"

"So I would say you are not happy to see us?" Hokuto let out kind of hurt.

"I would have been happier to see you a few minutes earlier."

"Oh we were here, but it was too much fun watching." Fuma added with such a teasing smile that Kentaro really wanted to punch him.

"Fun? Are you kidding me?" He tried hard to not scream and another stupid statement would make him freak. “Okay forget it, but what are you doing here anyways?”

“You really think we would leave you two alone these three days?” Hokuto asked with a light smile.

Kentaro looked at them confused until Fuma started laughing.

“You know a few months ago everyone would just mind their own business here, as long as it wasn’t about being a protector, but since you arrived, things changed!”

“I’m not sure if I can follow you.”

“What he wants to tell you, is that even if you had “friends” down here you couldn’t relay on them all the time, but you showed us that we should care! You stood up for Taiga and even Senga changed through you!” Hokuto added.

“Senga? What do you mean?”

“Tegoshi wanted to take a look if Taiga was alright, but he came back telling us that he would be fine, because Senga was looking out for him.”

“You are kidding me, right?” Kentaro felt like they would try to tell him a fairytale.

“Not at all. He had heard earlier that Hokuto and I were about to take a look at you later and so he knew that you would be fine, but maybe that was also why he decided to take a look at Taiga, because he knew that you care for him.”

Kentaro shook his head slowly as if he would still not get what was going on. Sure Senga had said something before about the other fighters behaving like cowards when they didn’t interfere, but that Kentaro was the reason for this change was almost unbelievable. He knew that Senga wasn’t really appreciating Nikaido’s and his however you want to call it relationship and that he would normally not help anyone except for Nikaido, but now that he heard this from those two he felt kind of relieved, knowing that the brought a quite positive change to this club without actually knowing how.

“But could we go back to bed now, please? Senga will be in such a bad mood tomorrow when he really stays awake for your and Taiga's sake and when we are also tired he will kill us!” Fuma begged, ripping on Hokuto’s shirt trying to drag him to the door.

“If you want you can go and ask him to switch places with you.”

“Yeah sure, as if I would run into the dagger voluntarily! I will pretend forever that I didn’t know about this and you should as well!” Fuma said pointing at Kentaro, which nodded with a bright smile on his face.

“Don’t worry, I will appreciate this in silence and yes we should really go back to bed before those two idiots wake up again!” Kentaro passed Hokuto and Fuma and left the room first still smiling. He felt so relieved to have found friends like them and now that he felt safe he was sure that the time until Nikaido would come back was going by in the blink of an eye.

***

"If he doesn’t stop looking at me like that I will definitely kill him." Taiga growled as he had stepped outside the ring after losing against Fuma in a training match. Of course Juri had watched everything with a mocking smile making it hard for Taiga to keep his patience.

"You can show him what you got as soon as he is allowed to fight again. It is your own fault for hurting him like that, now you have to wait until his injury is healed." Fuma replied teasing clapping him on the shoulder once before walking over to Hokuto.

"Don't worry about it too much!" Kentaro said supporting as Taiga sat down next to him at the warming up area in the back. "He might look really full of himself, but I don't think he is that stupid. He should also know that Fuma is in a higher fighting class then we all are.”

"But you saw what Kochi could do and when Juri has some secrets like that as well I will completely lose against him."

"That depends on who does the training, because I don't think that Ueda will do the same as Senga did with my fight."

"Why shouldn't he? He can be really mean when it is about training."

"But not when you are fighting."

"Oh come on he can perfectly divide between being a protector and being the trainer."

Kentaro chuckled on that receiving an evil glare from Taiga in return.

"You never had to stand next to Ueda when you were in the ring fighting! And you told me before that you noticed yourself that he is acting different towards you, even though he tries to draw a line between training and private matters!"

Taiga let out a low chuckle in reply knowing of course that even if he would want to convince himself that he was treated equal, he wasn’t and he knew it better than everyone else.

"You two might want to stop talking!" Senga said suddenly standing next to them. They both jumped up, but instead of yelling at them he gave them a light smile.

"Did something happen?" Taiga asked carefully.

"That depends on what you mean, if you mean something good then maybe yes. Depends on what you think about what is going on over there!" Senga pointed over his shoulder and as they looked towards the door they both had to try hard to not start running towards them as Nikaido and Ueda entered the room.

Juri and Kochi looked at them kind of impressed starting to whisper things. It seemed like there were a lot of rumors spreading about them and it made Kentaro kind of proud. He didn't walk over to him for now and it wasn't making him angry at all as they first talked to Senga about what happened in the past two days.

Hokuto and Fuma were the next ones Nikaido spoke to. Kentaro could see how they looked over to him from time to time and as Nikaido looked up at him there was some weird expression on his face, something Kentaro hadn't seen before.

"Did something happen?" Taiga asked worried not knowing about the incident from the night before, because Kentaro still had no time to tell him.

"I'll tell you later, you should go to Ueda for now."

"What? We still have training, so why should I?"

"Because I think this look should tell you that you will get into trouble if you don't go."

Taiga looked over to the ring where Ueda was standing his eyes fixed on him.

"Wow that's scary." Taiga said astonished. "It's the first time that he looks at me like that. Please tell me that I didn't do something."

Kentaro hit him on the forehead before pushing him towards Ueda.

"Idiot, he will be the one doing something to you if you don't move your ass over there.”

Kentaro looked after him with a smile as he stopped kind of embarrassed in front of Ueda. Instead of a greeting he lifted up a pair of gloves and pressed them against Taiga's chest before giving him a short, but bright smile nodding at him. Taiga took the gloves and nodded back before they stepped into the ring. Kentaro was sure that Taiga hasn't seen it, but the face that Juri had just made on Ueda's behavior was maybe the most hilarious thing he had ever seen in this club. His high and mighty behavior seemed to be gone and he finally seemed to realize that he shouldn't make fun out of Taiga that easily.

Still smiling Kentaro turned back to the others, but his smile vanished as his eyes met Nikaido's and he looked kind of angry this time. Senga and the others had gone back to training, but looked over to them from time to time and as Nikaido lifted his hand to wave him over he gulped nervously as he walked over to him slowly. Now he felt like the one who did something and as he stopped in front of Nikaido they looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"Was everything alright at the east club?" Kentaro asked after a moment as Nikaido didn't say anything at all.

"All good and here?" Nikaido asked in a cold voice.

"Same I think." Kentaro answered shrugging his shoulders, but Nikaido raised an eyebrow at him crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I’m not sure if I should be proud of you that you can just ignore the fact that you got attacked or if I should be angry that you are lying to me!”

“What? How did you-“Kentaro shut himself up looking over to Hokuto and Fuma which turned away the moment Kentaro glared at them for telling Nikaido about it. “I just thought it wasn’t worth telling, that’s all.”

Nikaido examined him with a judging look, but didn’t say anything else for the rest of the training, even though Kentaro could feel that something wasn't right. But somehow it didn't feel like Nikaido was angry at least not the way he normally was when they got into a fight or something else happened. 

“Are you done as well?” Fuma asked Kentaro as the training ended after Ueda had left first and Taiga sneaked out after him as if no one would realize it.

“Yes, wait I will just grab my stuff.” Kentaro wanted to grab his towel from one of the stools, but Juri stepped in front of him making Kentaro groan annoyed realizing that Juri was in a bad mood.

“What now?”

“Oh nothing special, just a question. You know this here hurts pretty bad!” Juri said pointing at the cut on his face. “And the last day I thought I might deserved it, but after what I’ve seen in just two hours in which Ueda had returned I think I might have been completely right about Taiga, so could you explain to me why he freaked out that much?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, those two are behaving so obvious and Taiga just sneaked after him, you know that is not really how you protect a secret.”

Kentaro chuckled on Juri’s stupid speculations knowing himself that Ueda and Taiga had nothing going on what was even close to what he had with Nikaido, but on the other hand he wondered as well why Ueda was so overprotective about him and why Taiga pretended to feel nothing special for Ueda.

“Are you making fun out of me?” Juri shouted angry grapping Kentaro by the collar. Fuma stepped forward automatically, but Kentaro signalized him that it was fine.

“Let’s say I am not sure if you deserved this cut or not, but yes your speculations are stupid, so if I were you I would stop with this bullshit.”

“Oh, so what I think about you and your awesome protector is also bullshit then?”

“Depends on what you are thinking about us!?”

Juri looked at Kentaro with wide eyes as he realized that he hasn’t been the one saying that. He swirled around, finding himself in front of a really pissed looking Nikaido.

“I’m waiting! So what is it you are thinking about us?” Nikaido’s voice was dangerous and while Fuma and Hokuto had to try hard to hide their smiles, Kochi had to drag Juri away from him as he had frozen to the spot completely pale. Kochi apologized towards them a few times before he pushed Juri out the door hoping that Juri's behavior wouldn't have consequences.

“Their characters are so different I wonder how those two ended up being friends.” Fuma asked wondering.

“Who knows, we all have our own pasts. Who knows what theirs is!” Hokuto replied walking over to the door already. “Kentaro are you coming?”

“You can leave first, it’s okay.” Kentaro replied shouting over his shoulder before facing Nikaido again.

As they finally were alone Kentaro let out a long breathe standing in front of Nikaido with his hands on his hips. Nikaido didn’t move and didn’t seem like he was about to say something, it looked more like he waited for Kentaro to say something.

“Are you going to ignore me completely from now on?” Kentaro finally asked in an annoyed voice.

“Depends on if you have something to say!”

“What if I say that I don’t.”

“Then I would say I will just take my leave for now.” Nikaido grabbed his gloves and towel and passed Kentaro without even looking at him again, but before he could reach the door Kentaro freaked.

“You wanted me to get stronger! You said that I had to become strong so that you don’t have to protect me anymore! Am I still not strong enough? Isn’t it good enough that I win almost all my sparing fights and that I can also finally stand at least a small chance against you?” Kentaro took a shaking breathe not allowing his voice to break even as Nikaido turned around to him again. “What do you want me to say? Sorry that I didn’t tell you that I was scared without you and that I wanted you to rescue me as I got attacked? Is it that what you want to hear?”

Kentaro paused again looking up to the ceiling as he realized that tears were filling his eyes. As he looked at Nikaido again he had made a few steps towards him, but he didn’t want to step back. Instead he also made a step forward demanding his voice to stay steady.

“I did what you wanted, I grew stronger! Even mentally I grew strong enough to overcome hardship like that myself! What do you want, if not that?” Kentaro took another step towards him so that he was standing right in front of him. “SAY SOMETHING!”

But instead of answering Nikaido pulled him into a tight hug and even though Kentaro tried to struggle he couldn’t free himself and as Nikaido rested his head on his hair grabbing his shirt tightly Kentaro finally stopped as he realized that Nikaido was shaking. Kentaro didn’t hug him back, but he waited patiently for Nikaido to finally reply something.

“Yes I wanted you to say sorry, but not out of the reason you just said! I am proud of you, so proud of you that you grew that strong!” Kentaro could hear that he was telling the truth. He wasn’t making fun out of him, it was maybe even the first time that he spoke so honest towards him. “You grew even stronger than I could ever imagine. But does that mean that you have to keep secrets from me?”

Kentaro felt like an idiot as he realized that Nikaido wasn’t angry, but hurt! He was hurt, because he lied to him and that right after he had come back.

Kentaro rested his forehead against his shoulder as he finally closed his arms around his back in response.

“If you think you are already strong enough to carry your burden yourself I won’t stop you, but please don’t lie to me! I did my best to stay calm at our visit at the east club and thanks to you I succeeded, but so did you! Exactly because we both did our best those days I don't want you to lie me in the face so easily! It feels like you wouldn't need me anymore and that is what I am most afraid of."

Kentaro didn’t dare to step back and look at him, because he feared to see tears in Nikaido’s eyes and that would destroy his world. He was his tower of strength so if he would see how he crumbled it would destroy the strong wall he built against the dark emotions which tried to break him. The honest and emotional words of Nikaido made clear how hard it must have been for him to stay calm the last days and how much it must have hurt him to be lied to by the person he treasured most at the moment.

“I'm sorry!” Kentaro finally whispered with his face still hidden against Nikaido's body.

They remind silent for a while until Nikaido took a deep breathe kissing Kentaro on the hair before turning away from him so fast that Kentaro had no chance to look at him.

“If you hurry the others will still be in the shower.” He said as he had the door handle already in his hand.

“Don’t worry, even if they aren’t I know that you will wait for me!” Kentaro said with a smile and he could see Nikaido’s chuckle through the movements of his shoulders.

“So at least I am still needed, good to know!”

“I will always need you, but hopefully not in this way forever!”

Nikaido turned his face just a little bit so that Kentaro could see his smile while his eyes were hidden under his hair. “Then I will be looking forward to that day. Show me how interesting and surprising you can be!”

“Then watch closely or you will miss something!”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

The next day started with an announcement from Nakai and everyone was kind of tense knowing that he would announce their opponents for the coming tournament, which was just a few days ahead of them now.

“First I want to remind you that the tournament will take place at the east club, so remember to follow their rules and don’t let yourself get provoked. I can’t help you, if something happens there. It’s their club, so their rules!”

Kentaro looked nervously towards Nikaido who was standing next to Ueda and Nakai in front of them, but he wasn’t looking at him and it made him kind of nervous, because somehow it told him that this tournament would be maybe their biggest challenge until now and he didn't mean just the fighting part.

“Shingo, the boss of the east club is normally good company, but he is really short tempered, so please just keep your distance. The same applies for their trainer, Nishikido!” Nakai’s look fell on Ueda for a moment, but Ueda kept a straight face even though the broad hint was more than clear.

“Did something happen between Nishikido and Ueda?” Kentaro asked Taiga in a low voice.

“At the beginning they were both fighters and they competed a lot against each other, but let’s say those two naturally hated each other without an special reason so that someone always had to stop their fights, because they were about to kill each other each time and let's say the clubs considered it a waste to let that happen.”

Kentaro nodded in silence wondering how Ueda could hide such a side of him until now or maybe it was really just showing in front of Nishikido, whatever it was he was happy that Kentaro never saw that side of him until now. Sure he had this dark aura from time to time, but especially when he interacted with Taiga he was so carrying that Kentaro couldn't imagine him going that furious.

“Okay then let’s continue with your opponents. The east club has a few new fighters as well and after we checked on their abilities we decided to take the following fighters with us.

“Nikaido is going to fight against the east club’s best fighter, Tamamori.”

No one seemed surprised by his announcement and even though it was clear to Kentaro as well, that Nikaido would have to face the toughest battle, he was already worrying about that match way too much.

“Senga, you are going to fight against one of their new fighters, his name is Tsukada.”

“What kind of fighter is he?” Senga asked curious looking at Nakai, but Nakai pointed at Nikaido to explain that.

“Let’s say he will drive you insane before your fight has even started, so this will be a tough one for you! If you don’t stay calm you will lose this fight for sure!”

Senga didn’t look happy about Nikaido’s words, being normally one of the impatient fighters, it would be a challenge to keep calm after already knowing that his opponent would make him freak.

“Next is Hokuto!” Nakai continued and Hokuto gave Fuma a high five like he had hoped to be part of this tournament while Kentaro was still hoping that he wouldn’t call up his name.

“Your opponent will be Iwamoto.”

“Really?!” Hokuto asked smiling with an exciting look while Fuma shook his head.

“This will be a massacre and unfortunately the one I would have liked to be in!” Fuma added in a low voice, but Hokuto just gave him a lopsided smile knowing that Iwamoto was an opponent Fuma had faced before and those two were really about to rip each other apart last time and after Fuma had lost there was still a score to settle between them. But then Fuma changed into the 4th class and now he was waiting for Iwamoto to follow and he already wondered why he was still in the 3rd one.

“Juri will be fighting against Morohoshi and Kochi against Kishi! We have not much information about those two, but after seeing one of their sparring fights we hoped that you two will be able to show us what you are made of and don't get fooled, just because they are younger than you doesn't mean that they are weaker!”

While Kochi looked kind of surprised about getting chosen for the tournament, Juri looked almost as happy as Hokuto. And of course his first look went towards Taiga with a lopsided smile obviously hoping that Taiga wouldn’t get chosen.

“Don’t get provoked!” Kentaro warned Taiga as he already clenched his fists on Juri’s mocking look.

“Those are the fighters we chose ourselves, the others were chosen by the east club! The first one is Fuma! You are fighting against Takaki.”

“Oh no, not again!” Fuma slammed his hands on his face groaning, gaining a supporting clap on the shoulder from Hokuto.

“Hey, you won against him last time!”

“I know, but I always feel like I would beat up a kid. Sure he is strong, but his eyes tell something really different. I hate it to fight against him! If he realizes that he is about to lose he starts running away!”

“The next one is Tegoshi.” Nakai paused for a moment looking at him with a kind of apologizing look before he continued. “They chose Massu as your opponent.”

Silence followed on his statement and Kentaro tapped Taiga on the shoulder after a moment asking with his eyes what was going on.

“Massu was in our club before and even though those two were just in the 2nd class they were something like the golden duo, but then Massu changed to the east club without any kind of explanation.”

Kentaro looked over to Tegoshi and he could see pain in his eyes. It was the first time that he had seen Tegoshi that hurt and he wondered if he would even be able to take this fight on.

“The last two fighters they chose are Taiga and Kentaro!”

Kentaro was still so deep in his thoughts that he needed a moment to realize that Nakai had just said his name, but when he looked up panicked, it was Nikaido who looked back at him finally and even though his look wasn’t actually telling him that it would be alright he knew that Nikaido would be at his side for that fight as well and that alone was enough to make him stay calm, at least for now.

“Kentaro you are fighting against Shigeoka, Ueda and Nikaido will give you as many information about him as possible, he is a new fighter as well.”

Kentaro just nodded, finally ripping himself out of his trance like state.

“Taiga you are going to fight against Jesse! Okay that should be all for now.”

Kentaro was already about to get up as Taiga jumped up making Kentaro flinch.

“Are you kidding me?” Taiga asked as angry as he had never seen him, okay except of the time as he got provoked by Juri. Kentaro looked back at Nakai, but he didn’t seem angry at his reaction and as his look fell on Ueda he could see that something was definitely not right. “Jesse was in the 3rd fighting class and he always ripped his opponents apart. So how come that he changed to the 2nd instead of the 4th?”

“We saw his fight on that day and yes what they showed us was not more than a 2nd class fight.”

“They tricked you, isn’t that obvious?” Taiga shouted at Nakai outraged.

“And even if they did, you think I can just accuse them without proof?”

“All the last tournaments are enough proof! You want me to get killed?”

Kentaro was totally over challenged with Taiga’s reaction and even Juri didn’t look mocking at him this time, but before he could think of a way to calm him down, Ueda walked over to him stopping right in front of him his hands on his back, looking at him with such a cold look Kentaro had never seen on him before, especially not in front of Taiga.

“You know the rules! If you refuse to enter the tournament I have to make you leave the club.”

“Wait, Ueda you can’t be serious!” Kentaro finally jumped up, but Ueda wouldn’t even spend him any attention, his eyes locked with Taiga’s.

“I think everything is clear for now! I hope you won’t disappoint me!” Nakai said suddenly leaving the room and an awkward silence behind.

Everyone else finally got up again, a few leaving the training room, a few others continuing their training, while Ueda and Taiga still remained in front of each other. Kentaro didn’t want to just leave, knowing that the situation was about to escalate with the next word, but before he could say anything Nikaido had stepped between them to his surprise.

“Ueda, how about you discuss this later?”

“There is nothing to discuss. Rules are rules and just because an opponent seems too strong for the fighting class, it is a cowardly act to refuse the fight.”

Taiga started laughing sarcastic on Ueda’s statement facing the ground, now clenching his fists.

“Cowardly? You dare to tell me that I would be a coward?”

As Taiga lifted his head again tears were glittering in his eyes. Tears of anger or maybe even hate and again Kentaro realized that he still didn’t know as much about Taiga as he thought.

“Taiga, calm down. Let’s talk about this later!” Nikaido tried to calm him down, but Taiga shook his head looking at Ueda instead.

“There is nothing to talk about anymore. It doesn’t matter anyways if I enter the fight or leave the club, either way my life will be over.”

Nikaido tried to put his hand on Taiga’s shoulder, but he slashed it away running out the room not reacting to Nikaido's or Kentaro's shouting, which tried to stop him without success.

“He can be so overdramatic.” Ueda said serious and it made Kentaro more than angry hearing something like that from the one person who seemed to care the most for Taiga. But to his surprise it was Nikaido who reacted before he could say something.

Nikaido grabbed Ueda by the collar and out of reflex Kentaro hold his breath and he could see how most of the other fighters got tense as well while those two stared at each other for a moment.

“You can be such a stubborn asshole sometimes, you know that?”

“Excuse me?” Ueda’s voice signalized him that he was playing with the fire, but Nikaido didn’t seem to care.

“You heard right! How about you put your oh so awesome professional behavior aside for once and act like a fucking human being.”

Ueda grabbed Nikaido by the collar as well on his provocation and Kentaro could already see how they were about to rip each other apart, but before Nikaido could say something else to make the situation escalate Senga pushed them apart holding on to Nikaido as he tried to get a grip on Ueda again.

“Nikaido, stop it!” He hissed at his friend who struggled against his grip.

“No, I won’t! Not as long as he is behaving like that!”

“But it’s not your problem!”

“I don’t care! He is the one behaving like a coward here, not Taiga!”

“Nikaido, shut up!” Senga had to use all his strength to hold Nikaido back so that he wouldn’t punch Ueda. While Ueda had frozen to the spot looking to the ground as if he would fight with himself not knowing what to do. Now Kentaro could see guilt in his eyes, it seemed like he had finally realized that this time he had been unable to balance his professional attitude as a trainer and the urge to take care of Taiga.  

“Ueda, if you are not going after him, it will be too late! You should now that the best!”

Kentaro didn’t really get what he was talking about, until he saw the change in Ueda’s eyes and before he could keep up with his own thoughts he started running. He didn’t care if he really interpreted Nikaido’s statement and Ueda's look right, but for now he had to find Taiga.

He rushed through the corridors banging at his room door, but he got no answer and as he pushed down the handle the door was open to his surprise , but he wasn’t there. Already out of breath Kentaro searched in the whole building for him, but he couldn’t find him. For a moment he thought that he had maybe already left, but the few belongings he had were still in his room and he doubted that he would leave without anything at all and then after he had thought about what Nikaido had said once more he cursed himself as he had ignored the most obvious place, the rooftop!”

Kentaro almost crashed into the door as he finally reached the roof. He spotted Taiga right away, sitting on the edge of the roof not spending him any attention even though he has definitely heard him.

“Taiga?” Kentaro approached him carefully and stopped as Taiga turned around to him with an expression full of sorrow.

“I would like to say that I am happy to see you, but to be honest at the moment the only one I would like to come up here is Ueda and I doubt he will do me that favor.”

“Maybe you have to give him a little bit more time. You know this was an official meeting with Nakai, what did you expect him to say?”

“To be honest, I didn’t even expect any supporting words from him, but it is his look which normally comforts me.” Taiga shook his head closing his eyes for a moment. “It was the first time that I saw nothing in his eyes. Even as Nakai had left his look didn't change.”

“But it did as you were gone.”

“Then why didn’t he come after me?”

“Oh you know that’s not that easy when he is fighting with Nikaido while Senga tries his best to stop them from killing each other.”

“What?” Taiga turned around to him with a disbelieving look, but Kentaro just smiled at him and walked over to the edge as well sitting down a few meters away from him. But while Taiga seemed completely okay with sitting on the slightly heightened edge of the building, Kentaro swallowed hard before he dared to move his legs over the side of the building. Luckily the building had just four floors, Kentaro tried to convince himself that it could be worse and finally took a deep breath and looked at Taiga again.

“To be honest I think Ueda didn’t mean what he said and he hates himself for not giving you the support you needed, but I guess he is the one who needs a little bit comfort this time!”

“You lost me.”

“Yesterday I lied to Nikaido about the last days, I said that nothing had happened, even though it did.”

“What? You didn’t tell me anything, what happen?” Taiga asked almost panicked, but Kentaro gave him a soothing look telling him about the attack in a few sentences before continuing.

“But Nikaido got angry at me and I was the one shouting at him in the end, because I thought he was angry, because I didn’t let him handle things even though he is my protector, but truth is that he just didn’t want me to keep secrets from him.”

“Okay I get that, but how does that connect to me and Ueda?”

“You told me yourself that he and Nishikido have some not really nice past, right? So how do you think he feels at the moment after he had to keep a straight face in front of him for three days for both of your sakes? Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand that you are angry, but this is not Ueda’s fault and as much as he would like to comfort you, he might has too much to deal with himself at the moment to even realize that he is hurting you with his behavior. Like I didn’t realize why I hurt Nikaido!”

Taiga nodded, slowly realizing that Kentaro was maybe right and he was the one who made the situation even worse with his reaction.

“By the way-“ Kentaro started carefully. “I know it might not be the perfect timing to ask this, especially when we are both sitting on the edge of the roof, but I just wondered about something for a while already...”

“What is it? Just ask, I guess it can’t get so much worse anymore.” Taiga said with a brief smile on his lips after Kentaro had looked down once more, but leant back right away, taking another deep breath.

“Are you sure? It is about your past!” Kentaro bit his lip as he saw how Taiga's look darkened, maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to ask in the first place, but then Taiga smiled at him.

“I wondered when you would ask.”

Kentaro was surprised by Taiga’s reaction, but also relieved that he seemed to be okay to talk about it.

“You know a lot about the club, so I wondered for how long you have been here and how you ended up here. I'm sorry that I didn't ask earlier, I came to you with all my worries the whole time and never asked of yours." Kentaro paused for a moment, but Taiga just shook his head waiting for him to continue. " And also the reaction with Juri, you know when he-“

“When he called me a girl?” Taiga ended his sentence as Kentaro felt too awkward to ask it directly.

“It's a long story to be honest.”

“We have time or do you have any other plans for today except for jumping down from here?” Kentaro asked kind of ironic and luckily Taiga laughed on that.

“I had a pretty easy life when I was little. We weren’t exactly rich, but my family was wealthy enough to give me a proper education and they even traveled overseas with me a few times. My father was at the military and in the middle of the war he was called to Hiroshima. My mother went with him, but they told me to remain in Tokyo, because it would be safer. You can imagine that they never came back.”

Kentaro nodded not daring to interrupt him and as Taiga stayed silent for a moment he moved closer to him until he could reach out for his hand. He placed his hand on top of Taiga’s and waited for him to continue.

“The city was totally destroyed and soldiers were everywhere. I had been living with two of my father’s attendants, but one was killed in the war and the other one ran away as it was announced that we had lost. I was just 14 back then, left alone in a half destroyed house, in a huge city full of our enemies.” Taiga chuckled bitterly as it was obviously hard to recall his dark past. “It was just a few days after we had capitulated that three soldiers broke into our house about to take all my parents’ property. I couldn’t care less for all those things, but I was scared and hid, but they found me and-“ Taiga took a shaking breath and Kentaro squeezed his hand in response, seeing how much he struggled with his own memories.

“You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.”

“No it’s fine, it’s just that it’s the first time I am actually telling someone about it.”

Kentaro wanted to ask if he didn’t tell Ueda, but he realized that he was most likely part of this story so he waited patiently for Taiga to calm down.

“Every time we went overseas people told my parents that they would have a beautiful daughter and I got so used to hearing that, that I didn’t even get angry at them anymore. I even found it kind of funny and let my hair grew longer to confuse them. The soldiers of course thought as well that I was a girl, they were surprised and amused as they realized that I wasn’t. Through my education I could speak a little bit English, so I tried to explain my situation to them and told them that they can take whatever they wanted, but unfortunately they found such an interest in me that they didn’t let me go like this. In the end they didn’t care if I was a girl or a boy and even though I begged them to stop they didn't...”

Kentaro felt like throwing up as he listened to each word as if they would be a daggers getting stabbed into his chest. Taiga had turned completely pale and Kentaro knew that he himself didn’t look any better at the moment. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what. He knew the fear of almost getting raped and Taiga had patiently listened to him as he came to him crying, wanting someone to comfort him. Now he felt so stupid! After hearing that he had to go through a way crueler experience than he had to, Kentaro felt more than stupid for burden the boy with his problems even though he had his own to carry.

“I had no chance to get away, but as I was already sure that as soon as they would be done I would get killed I was finally saved.”

“By Ueda?” Kentaro asked already knowing the answer, because of the smile Taiga had on his lips and that was reserved for Ueda and no one else.

“He killed them with his bare fists without any hesistation and even though he would have might looked scary to someone else, I wasn’t scared from the first moment. He saved my life on that day, but he never forgave himself for being that late. He had just walked by accidently as he heard me screaming.”

“That must be a heavy memory for both of you.”

“It is, but a precious one as well! My new life started from that day, as Ueda took me with him to his underground life. Ueda was still new in the fight clubs as well as I joined and he begged Nakai a lot to let me join, because the clubs were still small at that time and they would normally just let the best fighters enter, especially because the war didn't make it any easier for them. Since that day 4 years have passed and there was not a single day on which I wasn't grateful to Ueda for rescuing me.”

“Sorry, maybe I said too much before. Without knowing anything of your past I tried to defend Ueda, but-“ Kentaro said in a low voice, but Taiga shut him up immediately.

“No, don’t apologize. You were right! Maybe talking about this was necessary for me as well to realize what I have in Ueda! I should take a better look at him as well. It’s unfair of me to always demand attention and empathy, when I can’t give him the same in return.”

Kentaro let go of his hand to put his arm around his shoulder pulling him into a hug and Taiga buried his face on his shoulder for a moment. Now Kentaro could finally understand why Taiga would get that angry about getting called a girl, what hadn't been a problem to him when he was a child had turned into a painful memory and especially when someone would make fun out of Ueda it would of course trigger a huge amount of anger.

“You want to stay out here for a while longer?” Kentaro asked as he let go of him again, but Taiga shook his head as he wiped with the back of his hand over his eyes and looked up for a moment before facing him with a smile.

“No, let’s get back inside, I should talk to Ueda.”

“I guess for that you don’t have to go back inside.” Kentaro said kind of shocked as he had gotten up first and looked over to the door. Taiga followed his look until his eyes went wide as he saw Ueda standing next to the door, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“I think I should leave for now.” Kentaro said, patting Taiga comforting on the back before he walked over to the door. He wondered if he had been standing there the whole time and if he had heard everything and as he walked towards the door he stopped next to him for a brief moment looking at him questioning. Ueda stepped in front of him and ruffled through his hair, making Kentaro look up at him in confusion.

“Thank you,” was all he said before he walked over to Taiga and Kentaro knew that he had indeed heard their conversation and with a smile Kentaro closed the door behind him knowing that everything would be okay, at least until the day of the tournament.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

The atmosphere was tense as all fighters were standing in the ring looking up towards Nakai and Shingo which were standing on a special platform in front of them as they were greeting the customers. Ueda and Nishikido stood in front of the fighters and the tension between them almost cut through the air.

“Are you going to throw up? You are not looking that good.” Taiga whispered towards Kentaro.

“I threw up already before, thanks for your concern.” Kentaro had been a mess for the past days and even though he did really good in the regular training and even better at Nikaido’s training he didn’t feel good about this whole tournament at all. The whole building was much bigger and more pompous than the once he had seen and attended before. Also the customers seemed more than serious about the tournament as they were looking at each of them as if they wanted to cut the best piece of flesh out of a living animal.

“Then let us begin!” Shingo said smiling as he turned around to them again. Kentaro knew exactly what Nakai meant as he said he seemed nice at first sight, but had definitely something dark. Kentaro didn’t even realize that he was staring at him until their eyes met for a moment and Shingo gave him such a creepy smile that a shiver ran down Kentaro’s spine.

“Are you two alright?” Tegoshi asked Taiga and Kentaro as they had stepped to the side preparing for the first fight. Instead of an answer they both glared at him making Tegoshi hold up his hands in apology. “Sorry, stupid question! But just remember to stay focused whatever is going to happen!”

That also Tegoshi was making such a big deal out of this tournament made Kentaro feel even worse. He was thankful though that he still tried to take care of them even though he wasn’t in such a good mood since they had entered the building and he had seen Massu right after they had entered the tournament hall.

“You can leave the work to us! It won’t matter if you lose or not!” Juri said suddenly, making Taiga already clench his fists again ready to yell at him for his arrogant attitude. But when he turned around to him his look wasn’t mocking at all and it startled Taiga a lot. “Kochi and I will definitely win and I think that our club can win today even if you lose, so don’t do something stupid and leave it to us!”

Juri passed them stepping into the ring as the first fight was his and Taiga couldn’t believe that he had just told him indirectly that it would be fine to throw in the towel. Sure he was not Ueda nor Nakai, it didn’t really matter what he said, but just the fact that he cared made Taiga wonder if they really just had a bad start and if he should give the boy another chance. But before he could think about it too much he focused on the fight as Morohoshi stepped into the ring as well and the customers started putting their bets after the two fighters got introduced.

“Are you sure that they are in the same fighting class?” Kentaro asked Taiga worried.

“I bet he is using a fighting style like us, so all Juri has to do is to hit him hard once before he gets tired.”

“That sounds so easy.” Kentaro said ironic knowing that it wasn’t. But as the fight started they could do nothing else, but hope that Juri’s confidence he had shown until now was not just big talk.

As the fight started it was like they though and Morohoshi was fast enough to dodge all of Juri’s attacks and hit him a few times after just a few seconds. But Juri didn’t seem to care, it was almost as if he wouldn’t even feel it.

“Is he already getting tired?” Kentaro asked Kochi as Juri seemed clearly inferior.

“No he is analyzing.” Kochi said observing his friend's fight with a knowing look.

“Aren’t you the analyzer here?”

“Yes, but I am also his friend. Don’t you get taught stuff by your friends?”

Kentaro nodded slowly, knowing what he meant. Without using the techniques of Taiga, Nikaido and the others he wouldn’t be as good as he was now.

“But he will get knocked out before he can use any of the information, if he doesn’t defend himself.” Taiga added kind of worried looking at Kochi, but the boy just chuckled shaking his head.

“Trust me, this fight will be over before he gets even serious injured.”

“But he is not really-“ Taiga started as he got interrupted by a sudden huge applause and as he turned towards the ring again he saw Morohoshi lying on the ground unconscious and Juri standing next to him as if he wouldn’t have done anything. “-looking like he could win.” Taiga ended his sentence still staring at the boy in confusion, as he left the ring giving Kochi a high-five and Taiga a short clap on the shoulder before leaving for their training room, which was prepared for the north club fight members to rest.

“That was fast!” Kentaro said stunned still looking after them while Taiga was clearly out of words, now he was more than happy that he didn’t had to fight against Juri before the tournament, he was clearly on the best way to change to the 3rd class.

“That was too fast! I’m still not warm!” Senga added as he stepped next to them with Nikaido and Ueda at his side.

“Senga, please remember that you have to stay calm, if you want to win this fight!” Ueda warned him once more, but Senga patted his shoulder giving him a lopsided smile before stepping into the ring.

“Will he be alright?” Kentaro asked looking from Ueda to Nikaido not doubting Senga’s strength, but his patience.

“We will see!” Nikaido answered kind of cold without even looking at him and normally he would be hurt by his reaction, but they had spoken about the tournament before they came here. And Nikaido had told him that it would be best, if they would keep their distance, because any kind of tension between them could first be in the way of their concentration and second also get noticed by the east club members. That was also why Ueda and Taiga tried to stay away from each other as much as possible. It wasn’t like they were still angry at each other, it was more like the opposite. After they had finally talked to each other again they seemed closer than ever, but that was also what made it so dangerous to be too close at the tournament even though they had not really something to hide like Nikaido and Kentaro.

“HEY! I’M SO EXCITED! OH YOU ARE SENGA, RIGHT? LET’S HAVE AN AWESEOME FIGHT!” The whole tournament hall fell silent as Tsukada jumped into the ring taking a run up on Senga and stopped right in front of him, shaking his hand hyperactive, screaming at him in such a happy voice that he seemed like a 5-year old deaf kid.

Senga turned his head towards Nikaido his eyes throwing knives at him, but Nikaido just shrugged his shoulders.

“Told you he would make him freak!” Ueda said in a low voice towards Nikaido.

“So now this is my fault?” Nikaido asked almost hurt, but Ueda just rose his hands in defense as well.

“Hey, it’s not like I chose him!”

“So Nakai chose him as an opponent?” Tegoshi asked confused, but Ueda shook his head making all of them stare at Nikaido who turned towards them as he felt their eyes on him.

“What?”

“And you call yourself his friend!” Tegoshi said mocking.

“Unbelievable.” Taiga added trying to hide his smile.

Kentaro opened his mouth, but Nikaido’s death glare hit him before he could say something teasing so he just chuckled, turning back to the ring.

“Whatever! I trust him, he can win this…I hope…”

The fight started with both of them circling around each other for a moment, but Senga was already annoyed by Tsukada’s movements. He was jumping around the whole time not standing still for a second. But maybe that was also his biggest weakness. Like this he wouldn’t be able to do much analyzing and he would also get tired quite fast, so he took his chance to attack first to see what the latter was capable of. His fist went as expected into nothing as Tsukada jumped away, but instead of just taking a few steps backwards he jumped back and did two completely unnecessary backflips before looking at Senga again with such a bright smile that Senga wondered if it wouldn’t hurt.

“Are you taking me so lightly that you think it is a good idea to waste all your energy already?”

“No I would never do that!” Tsukada responded scandalized, shaking his head like a kid. “I am just having fun! But don’t worry, I will give you an entertaining fight!”

“I hope so! But sorry the most entertaining part will be me throwing you out of the ring!”

“Oh good luck with that!”

Senga took a small run up and tried to kick him, but of course he was faster and this time he countered instead of jumping away and to Senga’s surprise the kick he received into the side of his rips was way harder as expected. The moment he lost balance he realized that he hadn’t been careful enough as he was right next to the end of the ring and if he would fall out of it, it would be the end and not just that! Falling out the ring was a normal loss, if it was for the money, but it was the most disgraceful way of losing. So at the last moment he somehow found his balance and stepped back from the edge glaring at Tsukada.

“What? Did I do something wrong? I thought you wanted to have fun as well? Don’t look at me with those dangerous eyes!”  
“Just shut up, would you?” Again Senga rushed forward, but he didn’t forget about Ueda’s and Nikaido’s warning and this time he was expecting Tsukada’s counter attack, but that didn’t mean that he could block it. Again his kick was so strong that it made Senga step back and he cursed as he couldn’t find his way through his defense as fast as he had hoped. He wasn’t used to opponents which seemed stronger and faster than him at the same time. He tried to find a way too somehow make him tired and find a weakness, but he realized too late that he was the one getting tired instead, losing his concentration. After another attack he found himself on the ground and as he tried to get up again he had to go back on his knees not able to hold his balance. He punched the floor cursing before getting up again this time remaining in a standing position even though he was still seeing stars in front of his eyes.

“Isn’t this fun? You are so interesting! I normally have no opponents which are as persistent as you, but you just stand up over and over again!” Tsukada smiled as always, but then his smile vanished for a moment as he stroke through his hair with an annoyed sigh and there was Senga’s way too win.

“You know I also thought you would be different. I thought you would be interesting, but a few backflips and jokes don’t make you that entertaining.”

“Oh come on, you are as entertained as I am!”

“I am more than bored to be honest, but for the customers I play along!” Senga said with a lopsided smile and finally he could see anger in the other’s eyes.

It was the first time that Tsukada attacked first and finally Senga could see through his attacks and block them now that he got pissed and wasn’t jumping around like a rubber ball anymore. Before Senga could land a punch though Tsukada had twisted out of his attack again, but his calm attitude was completely gone and replaced by a mask of rage.

“Look, you are boring! You are running away the whole time. No fun at all!” Senga teased lifting his hands like he wouldn’t know what to do with him anymore and as he even turned his back towards him Tsukada freaked. He screamed and cursed while running directly at him, but as he tried to attack Senga stepped to the side and the punch that hit Tsukada as Senga swirled around toward him was so hard that it threw him out of the ring and crashed him into the ground right in front of Ueda and Nikaido.

“Well, that was a surprise.” Ueda said fascinated as he looked down at the unconscious fighter.

“So I hope you didn’t worry too much!?” Senga asked sarcastic as he stepped out the ring stopping next to them. “See, I am capable to even handle those kinds of opponents.”

“Or you are just a lucky idiot!” Nikaido replied kind of warning, but as Senga stuck out his tongue towards him he chuckled shaking his head at his childish behavior. Taiga and Kentaro looked at each other smiling for a moment, happy that the others had no problems in this tournament until now, but as Ueda stepped in front of them their smiles vanished.

“Your turn.” He said towards Taiga trying to sound as neutral as possible, but his eyes showed fear. The fear he wasn’t willing to let show before, but now that Taiga’s fight was actually happening he couldn’t hide his worries anymore even if he tried.

“It will be alright!” Kentaro tried to encourage Taiga, but maybe the only reason why he could do so, was because he didn’t know Jesse. Not even Tegoshi or Nikaido had any encouraging words left for him as he stepped into the ring. He turned towards Ueda once more, but he just received a brief nod from him before he walked over to the middle of the ring. Kentaro had never seen Taiga like this before in a fight, it was the first time that he saw fear in his eyes and it was not just the fear of losing the fight, because that wouldn’t be that bad.

Kentaro knew that Ueda had to fight with himself to not interfere already, but as Kentaro’s look fell on Jesse as he entered the ring he realized that he might also need someone to hold him back as soon as the fight would start. He couldn’t explain why, but Jesse’s aura already gave away that whatever was about to happen, wasn’t going to be a normal fight.

“Oh, so this year I can rip you apart? That will be fun!”

“Shut it, Jesse! We all know that you don’t belong in this fighting class.”

“But as you see I do, so get prepared to get more than just defeated.”

Taiga didn’t want to get scared, but he definitely was and knowing that no one could help him made it even harder to concentrate. He looked up towards Nakai for a moment and even though he didn’t really showed any reaction to Taiga’s objection to this fight before he seemed a little bit tense.

“I wouldn’t space out or this will be over before it starts.” Jesse warned him with a confident and dangerous smile.

Taiga tried not to panic as they started their fight, but he could feel how everyone else was as tense as him and as Jesse stepped forward he automatically stepped back making Jesse laugh.

“Oh are you already running away? I can finish this fast and painless, if you want. Okay maybe not painless, but at least fast!”

Taiga clenched his fists, knowing that he could at least beg Nakai and Ueda to let him throw in the towel, but even if they would, that would mean his life in the fight club was as good as over. So he decided that he could also end it with this fight instead of running away. As Jesse stepped forward again Taiga remained on the same spot looking to the ground for a moment.

“If you want me to finish you like this, I can do you the favor!” Jesse was more than sure that Taiga was too afraid to even fight seriously that the surprise was written all over his face as the boy jumped forward without any kind of warning to attack straight on. Jesse was of course prepared to block his attack, but Taiga had thought of that already and swirled around him and kick him from the side with a spinning kick and to everyone’s surprise it hit him quite hard. Taiga didn’t give him any time for a counter attack as he lunged out for a punch with his elbow right away as he had moved behind him, but Jesse was fast enough to duck away under it and sweep away Taiga’s feet. Taiga landed on his back, but rolled to the side as Jesse tried to kick him.

And even though Taiga could have gone on distance he feared that if he would just hesitate for a second the fear of attacking again would overwhelm him, so he started a counterattack right away. Unfortunately he didn’t come as far as he hoped as Jesse stopped him as he tried to move around him again. Jesse had seen his movements coming and grabbed him by the throat throwing him to the ground with so much force that Taiga screamed out.

“So you want it the painful and long way, it seems.” Jesse said in an amused voice while Taiga tried to free himself, but Jesse had placed himself on top of Taiga trying to punch him with his free hand. Taiga tried to block the punches and loosen Jesse’s hand around his throat, but he was feeling way too dizzy through the impact on the ground, so it didn’t take long until Jesse’s punches landed on his face one after the other. For a moment he thought about giving up like this, but he knew that Jesse wouldn’t stop even if he would lose conscious. As he turned his face to the side as he tried to twist himself away under Jesse his look fell on Ueda. He had never seen him that worried before and he could see how he was grabbing the fabric of his shirt to stop his hands from shaking. No he couldn’t give up now, not when Ueda also fought his own battle next to him. Not interfering was maybe the hardest part of a trainer in general, but not interfering into the fight of the person he was protecting and that also when he knew that this fight was more than unfair was obviously ripping him apart and Taiga wouldn’t let his efforts go to waste. Taiga cursed before blocking Jesse’s next punch and twisted himself away to be able to kick him away. As they both got up again Taiga was already breathing hard and swayed slightly through his lag of air.

“Still going to fight?”

“Of course, why do you think I am here?”

Again he received a sarcastic laughter from Jesse, but he wouldn’t let himself get distracted by it, he tried to calm down and plan his next attack. But Jesse wouldn’t give him enough time as he rushed forward attacking again, throwing one punch after the other at Taiga. At first he could still dodge them, but he was about to reach the edge of the ring, but to his surprise Jesse moved to the side so that Taiga would be able to step away from the edge. But after thinking about it once more Taiga realized that he just did it to be able to defeat him in a crueler way. Throwing an opponent out the ring wasn’t Jesse’s style. As he tried to dodge another punch Jesse suddenly passed him and grasped his waist together with his arms from behind.

“TAIGA!” It was Ueda’s panicked voice that reached him, but it was already too late. Taiga knew what technique Jesse was about to use, but he had not enough time to free himself as Jesse bend over backwards and dragged Taiga over him crushing him into the ground with his head first. He could feel the dull pain in his neck and even though he knew that his eyes were open he couldn’t see a thing. He felt like throwing up, while his body wouldn’t listen to his commands at all. He wanted to move, he wanted to scream and he wanted the pain to stop, but even though he begged his body to move it wouldn’t work.

“Oh did that hurt?” After a moment Taiga could finally see again and Jesse stood over him with such a satisfied smile that he would have liked to rip it off his face. Without any hesitation Jesse lifted his leg and crushed it down on Taiga’s rips. Taiga could feel and hear the sound of his bones breaking, but he didn’t even had enough air to scream properly or he couldn’t hear his own screaming anymore, he wasn’t sure.

Taiga had promised himself to not let Ueda’s effort go to waste, but the only thing he wanted at the moment was Ueda stopping the fight or calling out for Nakai to stop it, but he knew that he couldn’t do it and that he wasn’t allowed to blame him.

Again Jesse lifted his leg and as he brought it down on his chest this time Taiga split out blood, coughing painfully. It wouldn’t take him that much longer to pass out, but he was afraid of not waking up again so he screamed at himself to stay conscious. Jesse leant down to grab him by the hair lunging out for a punch, but Taiga didn’t want to close his eyes. Even if he would lose more than just this fight he had chosen to not run away until the end.

“STOP!”

Jesse’s fist stopped right in front of his face as to everyone’s surprise Shingo’s voice was heard. “That’s enough! Well done!” Without any kind of explanation Shingo ended the fight and even though Taiga wasn’t sure if he did it out of pity or other reasons he was more than thankful. No one really understood Shingo’s reasons anyway, so there was no use in thinking about it too much.

“TAIGA!” He heard Ueda and Kentaro screaming out for him at the same time as Jesse stepped away from him with an annoyed flick of his tongue as he was obviously more than angry about the abrupt end of their fight.

“Hey, Taiga look at me!” Ueda sat down next to him taking his face carefully into his hands. He knew that as the trainer no one would even give his reaction another thought. Worrying about their own fighters was natural, at least for their club. “It’s okay, it’s over!”

Ueda told Kochi and Juri, which had come running as they heard that the fight was about to escalate, to tell their doc to get everything ready before he would bring Taiga to the med room, which had been prepared for them as well. Carefully Ueda moved his hands under Taiga’s shoulders and legs and Taiga tried hard to not scream out on the sudden pain as he lifted him up. 

“Oh don’t be so overdramatic!” Nishikido said as he stepped into the ring stopping next to Jesse. He congratulated him shortly on his win before walking over to Ueda, but Kentaro stepped in between them making Nishikido raise an eyebrow at him. “What do you want boy?”

“Same question! The fight is over, would you please take your fighter out the ring? We have to treat our own fighter!” Kentaro didn’t know himself where his confidence came from, but he turned his head towards Ueda nodding at him that he should carry Taiga to the doc as fast as possible and Ueda was more than grateful for Kentaro’s help knowing that he wouldn’t have time to freak over Nishikido’s arrogant behavior at the moment. Kentaro turned towards Nishikido once more, but to his surprise he looked after Ueda with a weird expression, could it be worry? But the next moment his face turned into a mask again before he left the ring together with Jesse, but somehow Kentaro had the feeling that he wasn't that happy about Jesse's fighting style as he seemed to scold him instead of congratulating him. For now Kentaro didn't want to give it a second thought, but as he wanted to follow Ueda, Nikaido blocked his way.

“You are staying here!”

“What? Why?”

“You still have to fight! I know you want to help Taiga, but there is nothing you can do at the moment. Leave this to Ueda and the doc, he will be fine!”

Kentaro looked after Ueda, which just walked off into the corridors with Taiga in his arms. Tegoshi and Senga rushed after them leaving them alone with Hokuto and Fuma, which had come running with Kochi and Juri earlier.

“Don’t worry so much, Taiga is a tough guy!” Fuma said, patting Kentaro’s shoulder with a faint smile. “For now let’s support Hokuto, okay?”

Kentaro nodded, forcing himself to turn back to the ring as Hokuto and Iwamoto entered it. This fight didn’t make him feel any better. He doubted that it would be any fairer than Taiga’s fight.

Both of them kept smiling at each other even after the fight had started and they attacked without any kind of hesitation. Kentaro had never seen Hokuto so “amused” about fighting someone, but even though he seemed confident, Taiga’s fight had shocked him too much to believe in a smooth and fair fight.

“How is he?” Kentaro looked up at Nikaido, but he didn’t address him and Kentaro was almost shocked as Ueda walked up next to them.

“Not good to be honest, he has internal bleedings and the doc has to fix one of his rips, but at least his neck injury doesn't seem as bad as expected. Tegoshi and Senga are with him at the moment.”

For a moment Kentaro wanted to scream at him how he could stand out here talking so calm when Taiga was lying there needing his support, but he knew that he wasn’t allowed to judge him. Not just Nishikido, but also Tamamori and Shingo were looking at him as he just came back and again Kentaro had to remind himself that Ueda was the trainer and he had to support all of their fighters and not just one, if he would stay at Taiga’s side while other fighters would still be out at the tournament he would get into trouble.

Kentaro’s look fell back on the fight as Hokuto crushed into the ground coughing. Iwamoto had hit a spinning kick to his neck and Hokuto had troubles standing up again. Iwamoto attacked right away again kicking Hokuto into the stomach so hard that he slid almost over the edge of the ring and for a moment Kentaro wondered why he had stopped himself from falling over the edge. Sure they all said it was disgraceful, but this tournament was already unfair enough, for him there was no need to win with all his might.

Iwamoto had totally overpowered Hokuto and the fight turned into some weird hide and seek, while Hokuto tried to somehow get at least enough time to get back on his feet and get some space, but Iwamoto wouldn’t let off him even for a second. Iwamoto was still smiling, but his eyes showed something dark and dangerous, as if he was about to lose his mind.

“Hokuto, come on!” Fuma hissed between his teeth watching the fight so intense as if he would be fighting himself. Again Iwamoto kicked him almost out the ring, but Hokuto wouldn’t just give up like this. One more time he got up to his feet, but he couldn’t even start a real counter attack anymore. His breaths seemed painful and his movements were forced and slow. Iwamoto blocked his attack and moved behind him to close his arms around his neck. Hokuto tried to struggle, but he had no strength left to fight him off. Kentaro was looking at the scene in front of him in a complete numb state and for a moment time seemed to have stopped.  As he took his next breath it was already over. He couldn’t even remember how he had ended up on his knees. All he could remember was the terrified look in Hokuto’s eyes as Iwamoto had grabbed his neck with one hand and his chin with the other one. And then Fuma’s scream as Iwamoto broke Hokuto’s neck without any kind of emotion on his face. He let Hokuto drop to the ground and for a moment no one moved and the whole tournament hall fell silent.

First there was the applause, an applause louder than ever before, like it would have been the highlight of a huge show, then there was Iwamoto leaving the ring without any kind of guilt on his face, Nishikido standing next to him shaking his head instead of congratulating him and then Kentaro’s numbness finally dissolved slowly as Fuma’s desperate screams reached his ears as he rushed over to Hokuto lifting his lifeless body up in his arms. Kentaro felt like this was happening to remind him of how cruel the world could be and that he had chosen a place where a human life wasn’t as precious as he would like it to be.

He couldn’t take his eyes off Hokuto and then Ueda stepped inside the ring trying to get Fuma away from his friend, but the latter had buried his face on Hokuto’s shoulder crying like Kentaro had never thought he could. Kentaro’s breaths speeded up and he felt like fainting. He clenched his fists into his hair trying to stop himself from hyperventilating and even as Nikaido crouched down in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulders he couldn’t calm down.

“Don’t freak out now, your fight is next!”

He froze for a moment before looking up at Nikaido with eyes full of disbelieve before he finally lost it.

“No!” He shook his head so fast that he started to feel dizzy and the first tears dropped to the ground. “No, I can’t fight! Not now! Hokuto is DEAD!”

“And you will be as well, if you don’t get a grip on yourself!” Nikaido’s words were true he knew that, but it was just too much for him. He started screaming and pushed Nikaido away before getting up, rushing out the hall. He didn’t care how shameful his behavior was and if his life in the club would be over like this, but he couldn’t fight now. He ran through the corridors not sure where he wanted to run off to, but his run was abruptly stopped by Senga who blocked his way. Kentaro tried to ignore him and push him away, but Senga closed his arms around him, forcing him to finally stop.

“LET GO!” Kentaro screamed still crying, but he had no energy to struggle anymore.

“What is going on? Kentaro, calm down!”

Juri and Kochi also appeared around the corner as Kentaro broke down and Senga let him slide to the ground.

“Kentaro, breath! What happened?” Senga hold on to his shaking body, trying to calm him down somehow.

“Hokuto-, Hokuto is-“ His voice was shaking so much that he couldn’t even bring out a full sentence and as the pictures showed up in his head again he shook his head again, not able to voice it out.

“What? Kentaro, what happened?” Juri asked worried as he sat down in front of Kentaro, but he couldn’t do more than shake his head and try not to scream.

“Hokuto is dead!” Nikaido answered instead as he had finally caught up with him and approached them slowly. Senga closed his eyes and let out a long sigh while Juri and Kochi looked at each other in disbelieve. Senga made space for Nikaido, but Kentaro tried to fight him off as he wanted to lift him up on his shoulders.

“Kentaro, you have to go back or Nakai will get into trouble.” Nikaido said in a low voice, knowing of course that this was not what the boy cared about at the moment. Senga pushed the other two boys along the corridor telling them to take a look at Fuma and he went back to the med room to take a look at Taiga. When there would be someone to be able to calm Kentaro down it was Nikaido and no one else.

“I’m not fighting!” Kentaro whined between his sobs trying hard to not break down completely again.

“Kentaro, look at me!” Nikaido pushed him against the wall carefully, but firm as he refused to stay still. “You knew that something like this could happen! You went through the war as we all did! You lost your family, your friends and most of us went through the same. Don’t you think it is unfair to run away now? Taiga didn’t run away and neither did Hokuto.”

“And now he is dead!”

“Yes he is dead, but he fought until the end and that is what we are doing here, what you decided to do as well! When Ueda brought you here, you stepped inside this word willingly, knowing that there was nothing left for you out there! It was the same for Hokuto, he had nothing left and here he finally had found a new place and a new reason to keep going! Don’t let his efforts go to waste!” Nikaido put one hand under his chin lifting up his face. Kentaro wanted to look away, but Nikaido forced him to look at him.

“If you start running now, there is nothing left for you in this world anymore, then this is the end!”

Kentaro knew that he was right, but the fear was just too big and the shock too deep to just continue like nothing had happen.

“I know how you feel trust me! I lost friends in those fights before, but running away won’t solve the problem!”

Kentaro nodded hesitantly, but grabbed Nikaido’s sleeve as he wanted to start walking towards the tournament hall again.

“Just in case that this is not going the way I want it to, I want to give you your payment one more time.” Kentaro whispered looking at him with a mixture of fear and complete numbness.

Nikaido understood right away and moved back putting his hands on his cheeks to wipe away his tears carefully before leaning in for a kiss. He understood that Kentaro was more than afraid that his fight could have the same outcome as Hokuto’s, especially after luck didn’t seem to be with them for this tournament, but if he would also show his worries Kentaro would completely drown.

“Oh that’s a surprise!”

Nikaido jumped in front of Kentaro automatically cursing himself for not paying enough attention towards his surroundings as Tamamori was standing right in front of him with an amused and arrogant smile.

“What do you want?” Nikaido hissed at him feeling how Kentaro had stepped behind him grabbing his shirt on the back.

“Oh I just wanted to take a look where your next fighter is, but now I guess I know! If you want I can tell Shingo to wait a little bit longer, because you are busy!” Nikaido knew exactly that he wasn’t actually making fun of them, but threatening them. If he would really tell anyone what he had just witnessed there would be consequences and they would be huge.

“Tell them that he is ready! We are right behind you!” Nikaido replied his eyes throwing daggers at him, but Tamamori didn’t seem impressed at all. They walked back to the tournament hall and Kentaro was more than relieved that Fuma had obviously brought Hokuto out the hall already. But Ueda was standing next to the ring watching him impatiently, but also apologizing as he walked up to him.

“Then I hope this fight won’t be so tragic, but maybe your heartwarming comfort for him will do wonders.” Tamamori said before walking around the ring and stopped next to Nishikido, but it didn’t seem like he intended to tell him about what he had seen.

“Nikaido, don’t tell me you did something stupid!” Ueda grabbed his arm turning him around to face him after Tamamori was gone.

“Depends on what you mean!”

“Don’t give me that shit, you know exactly what I mean! Did he see you two?”

Nikaido nodded lightly and Ueda escaped an annoyed groan, but there was no time for a lecture as Shigeoka had already stepped into the ring. Kentaro automatically made a step backwards, but Nikaido put his hands against his back pushing him forward.

“Just remember our training! Kentaro, you can do this! Juri and Senga also won their fights, don’t get afraid without even knowing your opponent!”

That was easy said, but he could already see that Shigeoka had the same dark aura, which Iwamoto and Jesse spread as well. His legs were shaking as he stepped into the ring and before he walked up to the middle he turned towards Nikaido and Ueda again.

“Concentrate!” Ueda said warning, while Nikaido nodded even though it was more than clear that he would have loved to fight in his place if he could.

“Fight for him as well!” Nikaido said in a low voice and Kentaro knew of course who he meant and even though he still wanted to run he finally turned around and stopped in front of his opponent looking up to Nakai and Shingo. He could see that he had made Nakai angry with his behavior, but Shingo seemed quite amused by the entire ruckus.

“I was told that you would be an interesting fighter, but all I see is a scaredy-cat.”

Kentaro didn’t even react to Shigeoka’s mocking. All his thoughts were still filled with the pictures of Taiga’s and Hokuto’s fight.

“KENTARO, WATCH OUT!” Nikaido’s voice reached him just in time so that he could dodge Shigeoka’s attack which seemed to have come out of nowhere. But he stumbled and landed on the ground looking up into Shigeoka’s more than amused face. So much to their warning to concentrate, he hasn't even realized that the fight had already started.

“This is going to be over faster than I thought!” Shigeoka said almost disappointed before approaching Kentaro, who jumped up to block his next attacks, but even though he could block and dodge for some time his body wouldn’t listen to him and so his counter attacks were way too weak. It didn’t take long until Shigeoka hit him quite hard with a punch on the face and normally it would have lifted Kentaro off his feet, but Shigeoka grabbed him by the throat holding him close.

“You want me to fight the same way as Jesse?” Shigeoka asked with a dangerous smile as he pulled him closer and as Kentaro remembered Taiga’s fight he freaked again. Instead of fighting the way he would normally do, he slashed wild around him until Shigeoka had to let go of him. He fell to his knees breathing hard, closing his hands around his throat carefully, but he felt how he was about to lose it again and Shigeoka wouldn’t just wait for him to attack again so he got up again stepping back until he reached the edge of the ring.

“Don’t tell me that you’re going to run away now!?” Shigeoka obviously waited for Kentaro’s next move, if he would voluntarily jump out the ring his club would be the shame of the whole city and he would have face the punishment for his action.

“Kentaro, you can do this! Don’t be afraid, concentrate!” Nikaido stood behind him at the side of the ring, but Kentaro didn’t dare to look at him. Instead he took a hesitating step forward again, taking a deep breath.

“Okay so you chose the hard way!” Shigeoka seemed more than pleased with his decision and attacked straight on again, but just for a moment Kentaro was concentrated enough to not just block his attacks, but also counter and get his opponent off his feet. But Shigeoka wasn’t really impressed by his fighting and his look gave away that he really had the same attitude as Iwamoto and Jesse. To Kentaro’s surprise he smiled again and circled around him for a moment before he stopped next to Nikaido and Ueda looking at them.

“I hope you don’t mind that you might have to get not just one, but two new fighters after today!”

Nikaido had stepped forward, but Ueda grabbed his arm holding him back. Shigeoka’s sarcastic laughter as he turned back towards Kentaro sent a chill down his spine and even Ueda and Nikaido didn’t look as convinced about Kentaro’s chances as before anymore. But he had no time to exchange another look with them as Shigeoka attacked him with a way more aggressive style then before, making Kentaro block one attack after the other without a chance to attack himself. Then one punch went through his defense and hit him under the rips and that was when Shigeoka took the chance to move behind him and close one arm around his neck.

“How about I fight like Iwamoto this time instead of using Jesse’s style?” Shigeoka whispered into his ear and as Kentaro realized that he couldn't free himself out of his grip he started screaming again knowing that he had no chance to stop him anymore.

“NO! STOP IT!” Nikaido shouted panicked ready to interfere, but Ueda wouldn’t let him, holding him away from the ring with all his might. Kentaro looked at him with so much fear in his eyes that Nikaido froze for a second, knowing that everything could be over with the next move. Shigeoka’s grip tightened and Kentaro felt how it got hard to breath, but he wasn’t able to free himself out of his grip at all. Every direct attack would end with Shigeoka breaking his neck.

“Please, don’t-“ Kentaro whispered still looking directly at Nikaido even though his words were meant for Shigeoka.

“Oh are you begging for mercy now? Then how about I give you the mercy of ending this fast?” Shigeoka shifted his weight and moved his arms and Kentaro couldn’t even scream anymore as he felt the pain in his neck. For a moment he could still hear Nikaido’s shouting, but then his body started to feel numb and he lost track of his surroundings, but just before the pain was too much to bear the hands around his neck were gone and he crushed to the ground. Or had it been already too late? Was dying less painful than he had thought? He couldn't open his eyes, neither could he hear something else than a constant ringing in his ears, so whatever had happened he would find out when he woke up again, if he would wake up!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided)!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

Kentaro opened his eyes slowly, but he was sure about two things as he stared at the ceiling, first he was alive and second this was not the east club anymore, but their own med room. As he remembered what had happened he sat up way too fast making everything in front of him spin and someone next to him squeal out of surprise.

“Don’t scare me like that!”

“Fuma-” Kentaro started, but had to clear his throat once before he was able to continue speaking in a lower voice. His throat was still hurting, but he had to know what had happened. “For how long are we already back? What happened to the others? How is Taiga?”

“Calm down, would you! Do you even remember your fight?”

“I don’t care for my fight, how are the others?” Kentaro almost screamed at Fuma, shaking him on the shoulders.

“Breath, Kentaro!” Fuma took his hands away from his shoulders squeezing them lightly. “Everyone is fine! Taiga is over there!” Fuma pointed at one of the beds at the other side of the room and Kentaro felt even worse as he already did as he saw that he had a huge cut on the side of his ribs.

“What happened to him, he didn’t had that before!”

“The doc had to make a sudden surgery, because one of his broken rips had pierced through his lungs.”

“WHAT? Will he be alright?” Kentaro wanted to stand up, but Fuma pushed him back on the bed.

“What did I tell you?”

“Breathing, I know, but I have not a single clue about what is going on!”

“If you would shut up and listen I will tell you!”

Finally Kentaro took a deep breath and waited for Fuma to explain what had happened after his fight.

“First of all, all the others are fine, they didn’t fight.”

Kentaro opened his mouth, but shut it again knowing that Fuma would explain it anyways, if he would ask or not.

“I guess you don’t really remember what happened as you passed out, right?”

Kentaro nodded, remembering that Shigeoka was serious about breaking his neck, so he still wondered why he was still alive.

“Nakai had thrown in the towel for you making Shigeoka let go of you right in time.”

“You are kidding me!?” Kentaro knew that he should be grateful, but on the other hand he was so angry, because Nakai could have done the same for Hokuto, but he didn’t. If Kentaro would have fought first, would he have died? Would Hokuto still be alive if he would have fought after him? He would never know and he could see that Fuma was asking himself the same question even though he would never voice those thoughts out loud.

“Anyways, Nakai canceled the tournament after your fight, apologizing deeply to the customers.”

“Why? Isn’t this making him to some kind of a joke for the other clubs?”

“No, not at all. It happens from time to time that clubs accept their defeat before they lose even more good fighters and I think one badly injured and another one dead was enough for him. If he would have lost you as well, it would have been an even bigger disaster than just giving up.”

For a moment they stayed silent and Kentaro tried to handle all the information he just got, but knowing that at least everyone else was fine was making it a little bit easier to endure the pain caused through what had happened on that day.

“And how are you?” Kentaro finally dared to ask, but Fuma looked down to his hands nervously twisting his fingers around each other.

“Not fine, if you want to hear that, but I will get over it. We knew from the beginning what it meant to come here!” Fuma fell silent again and looked up at Kentaro sceptic, but Kentaro signalized him that he would listen, if he wanted to talk. “We were friends already before the war; we went to the same school and were hanging out a lot together. As the war was almost over, his family wanted to flee out of Tokyo, but they never made it and Hokuto was the only one who survived, standing in front of our door one day, covered in blood. He had told me that he had seen how his family was killed right in front of his eyes and even though he knew it was already too late he never forgave himself for running away at that time. I told him that there was no reason to feel guilty about leaving the dead behind, but I had to go through the same struggle just a few days later.” Again he paused, taking a deep breath and again Kentaro realized that they were all the same. Each and every one of them had a cruel past leaving them nowhere else to go.

“The only difference was that my parents were still alive, but they told us to flee and so we did. We left knowing that we might never see each other again, but my father had told me that there was no reason for me to stay and die with them. The bond between us would last even when they would be gone and he was right!” Fuma clapped himself on the chest smiling briefly. “They are still here and even if it still hurts they will always remain here. Hokuto also got a place in here forever!”

Kentaro couldn’t stop himself as he leant forward and hugged Fuma tight as the latter shared the first tear, grabbing the fabric of his shirt over the chest with shaking hands.

“I know how much it hurts and I know how long it takes to move on, but you are absolutely right! They all have an eternal place in our hearts and Hokuto has not just a place in yours, but in all of ours as well!”

Fuma tried to hide his sobs as he reached out for Kentaro and hugged him back, clenching his fists into the fabric of his shirt. After another moment he backed off again, wiping over his face with the back of his hand, hawking once before trying to act as usual.

“How about you go and meet with Nikaido and the others for now? I’ll take a look at Taiga, we just came back and everyone is still a little bit freaked out about the tournament and I just can’t take it to be around them at the moment.”

Kentaro nodded understanding, standing up carefully, but now that he had rested a little bit he felt at least good enough to walk. He walked inside the training room finding most of the fighters which had participated in the tournament sitting in the warming up area getting a lecture from Ueda about their fights. Just Nikaido and Senga were training at the punching bags as they would usual do, not because they tried to ignore what had happened, but to get rid of the anger stored inside through all the bad happenings. But before Kentaro could walk over to them Juri and Kochi blocked his way. He waited for another stupid statement from them, but when Juri hugged him instead he froze, blinking at him confused as he backed off again.

“Sorry.” Juri said embarrassed as he saw Kentaro’s startled face.

“What was that for?”

“An apology.”

“For what?”

“For everything. I know our start wasn’t that good and I don’t want us to continue like this.” Juri explained looking over to Kochi, which nodded approving. “We all have our burdens and our pasts. I’m naturally a little bit reluctant to people, I know-”

“Reluctant?” Kentaro asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, okay! I know! Yes I am an asshole sometimes, okay? Better like this?” Juri asked, making a face stuck between an apology and another try to insult him, but he bit his lip trying hard to not say anything else.

“Way better!” Kentaro said chuckling, clapping him on the shoulder once before passing both of them, but turning around to them once more. “Be sure to tell the same to Taiga, but don’t rip him apart if he will laugh at you at first! He is not as forgiving as I am.”

Kentaro was sure that Taiga would accept their apology for sure, but it was definitely better to warn them that Taiga could think of it as a joke and getting into a fight in his condition would definitely not be the best idea.

Juri and Kochi left the room first and Ueda seemed to be almost done with his lecture as well. Kentaro decided to talk straight to Nikaido, knowing that Senga wouldn’t mind and the others would know better than concentrate on him instead of focusing on Ueda’s talk.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Senga asked with a smile as he stopped next to them.

“I feel okay, I guess.” Kentaro turned towards Nikaido waiting for him to say something, but he turned away from him to get his towel. As he turned back he looked at him for a brief moment before he just passed him leaving the room without another word.

Kentaro could do nothing but stare after him, he had expected any kind of reaction like shouting at him for not concentrating in the fight or asking him how he felt, even just a clap on the shoulder would have been enough, but nothing?

“Okay that’s all! Take a rest for today, the regular training is starting next week again!” Ueda dismissed everyone and Kentaro was about to also just leave the room. For now he thought about just getting to his room trying to calm down, but Ueda stopped him as he wanted to follow Senga and the others. Senga looked at them once more before he left the room and if Kentaro didn’t imagine it there was a smile on his face, which he couldn’t explain at all, because he felt like exploding and they should all normally know why.

“Kentaro how about you stay here for a moment?” Ueda suggested.

“For what? You don’t expect me to train, do you?” Kentaro had to try hard not to shout at him. He knew that Ueda wasn’t at fault for his sudden change of mood, but telling him to stay in the training room without any obvious reason made it hard to not feel pranked. But Ueda’s look told him that he was serious about what he had suggested and that maybe Kentaro should somehow know why he should stay, but at the moment he would miss the forest for the trees. So in the end he remained alone in the room shaking his head on Senga's and Ueda’s weird behavior walking over to the punching bags.

“You are such an idiot!” He said in a low voice punching the bag halfhearted. But then he remembered his fight again and the next punch was way harder and his voice was getting louder.

“You were the one who wanted me to fight!” Another punch and the first sweat drops dropping to the ground after the next punches.

“Weren’t you the one standing next to the ring shouting out for me?” His throat started to hurt and his body screamed at him to stop, but he couldn’t.

“You tried to stop the fight even though you weren’t allowed to! Or did I already hallucinate in the end?” This time his voice broke and sobs were replacing his rhythmic breathing as he hit another punch.

“How can you ignore me, after you could have lost me? YOU IDIOT!” The next punch ripped the chain of the punching bag and it dropped to the ground. Kentaro clenched his fists, which were strained with blood, because he hadn’t put on gloves, but he didn’t care for the pain of his body, because his pain inside was much worse. “What am I to you?” His voice was not more than a whimper as his sweat mixed with his tears.

“You are everything to me and that is why I can’t continue to be so careless!”

Kentaro was almost shocked as Nikaido had entered the room without his notice and hugged him from behind closing his arms around him so tight that it almost hurt. He would have complained, but he could hear the pain in Nikaido’s voice and feel the guilt in his grip and finally he understood. Of course Nikaido cared, but after Tamamori had seen them together Nikaido couldn’t risk to be discovered again, even when it was their own club. Rules were rules and not all of their own fighters would be as understanding as their friends. Of course Senga and Ueda had gotten from the beginning why Nikaido had left the room. He wanted to wait until everyone had left the room to speak to him, to apologize to him. That was why Senga had left first, to tell Nikaido that it was okay to return after everyone else had left the room and that Ueda had told him to stay inside the room out of the same reason. He felt so stupid for mistrusting him, he should know him better by now.

“I’m so sorry for not saying anything earlier. I’m so sorry for making you take on this fight, for not being able to help you, to stop it! You are right, I could have lost you and I would not have been able to do anything about it.”

Kentaro turned around in his arms, stroking over his cheek, stopping him from looking away. Nikaido never liked it to show his weakness, but Kentaro already knew that he himself was his biggest weakness by now and he didn't see it as something bad, because it was the same for him.

"I don't know how to apologize to you." Nikaido continued in a broken voice as he put his own hand over Kentaro's, closing his eyes. Kentaro leant forward almost automatically putting his other hand on Nikaido's face as well and rested his forehead against his, but then he let out something between a sob and a chuckle, making Nikaido look at him again.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, just- Damnit I just wanted to say something comforting, but let's say it's hard to concentrate like this."

First Nikaido looked at him confused, but when he pointed down to his feet Nikaido started laughing. Kentaro had to stand on the tip of his toes to even be able to be on the same height as him.

"Oh sorry, shall I sit down and we just reset this?" Nikaido asked teasing, gaining a punch on his stomach from Kentaro. But a small scream followed as he turned away from him holding his hand.

"Are you okay?"

"All good, don't worry."

But of course Nikaido turned him around taking his hands in his as he realized that he tried to hide how hurt his hands were from before.

"We have to treat this!"

"It's fine, it can wait."

"Kentaro!"

"Okay fine, I will go to the med room." He could see that Nikaido wouldn't discuss about it and so Nikaido dropped him off at the med room and left after taking a look at Taiga and exchanging a few words with Tegoshi, who was sitting next to Taiga’s bed after Fuma had fallen asleep on the chair next to his bed a while ago.

He had told Kentaro to get back to his room after he was done, so he could rest. But of course Kentaro was more than angry at him for leaving him alone again.

"You don't seem like you want to rest." Tegoshi said with a light smile as Kentaro looked to the clock all the time, waiting for the doc to be done with his hands.

"Did you by any chance get interrupted earlier?" Tegoshi asked in a light teasing tone.

"No, I interrupted myself." Kentaro spilled out before thinking, but as it was just Tegoshi he knew that he could talk about it.

"Then maybe you should really hurry back to your room."

"I don't really need to rest, I slept the whole day."

As the doc was done with his hands he stood up, but as he wanted to walk over to Taiga's bed instead of leaving the room Tegoshi grabbed his arm and dragged him to the door.

"What the hell, Tegoshi!" The latter had pushed him out the door not allowing him to come back inside before he knew what was going on.

"He told you to go to your room, so do it." Kentaro could see a brief smile on Tegoshi's face before he closed the door, but he still didn't get what was going on.

Slowly he walked through the corridors thinking about going back to the training room or even to Nikaido's room, but he knew that it was too dangerous and Nikaido would scold him if he would do that. But when he turned towards the corner in front of his room he stopped as someone leant against his door.

"Nikaido?" So much to his thoughts about Nikaido scolding him, if he would have walked over to his room. "What are you doing here? You told me to rest."

"But I didn't say that you have to do that alone."

"Isn't this too risky?"

"Let's say I asked for protection."

Kentaro knew what that meant and again he couldn't be thankful enough to have Ueda on their side.

He stepped inside first, Nikaido following him and locking the door from the inside to be sure that no one would disturb them. But Kentaro was still not really in the mood to just lie down and rest. He stopped in front of his bed as Nikaido closed his arms around his upper body suddenly. This time his grip was gentler and for a moment he didn’t move until Kentaro relaxed in his arms, stroking with his hand over Nikaido’s lower arm. Carefully Nikaido dared to moved his hands over Kentaro’s shirt and even as his hands slipped under his shirt the boy wouldn’t stop him. Kentaro rested his head against his shoulder lifting one hand up to stroke through Nikaido’s hair while his other hand went behind his back moving under the latter’s shirt as well.

So Nikaido’s plan wasn’t for them to rest right from the beginning, but to give them a reason to rest later and Kentaro couldn’t approve more of the idea. It wasn't that he had forgotten about everything that happened just a few hours ago, but just for tonight he wanted to run away from the cruel reality and it seemed like Nikaido wouldn’t mind to give him the distraction he needed. He moved his hand down to Nikaido’s pants slowly and rested it over the sipper.

“Are you sure?” Nikaido asked in a low voice as he had lifted up his head to whisper into Kentaro’s ear. Instead of giving an answer he just nodded and Nikaido moved his hands from Kentaro’s stomach down to his pants. Kentaro tensed and closed his eyes even though he didn’t want to. But Nikaido had realized it and turned him around.

“Look at me.” He said in such a carrying voice that Kentaro open his eyes to make sure that it was still Nikaido standing in front of him. Nikaido pushed him backwards until he hit the bed and pushed him on it carefully. He pulled Kentaro’s shirt over his head before getting rid of his own and crawling on top of him. Kentaro didn’t dare to take his eyes off him too afraid to get haunted by his memories. He knew that Nikaido had realized his struggle, but he was also thankful that he just continued without trying to calm him down all the time. Nikaido kissed over his neck, down to his collarbone to distract him while getting rid of his pants. After he had gotten up just to get out of the rest of his own clothes as well he crawled back on top of the boy putting his hands next to his head.

“Last chance to change your mind!” Nikaido said, clearly signalizing him that he wouldn’t force him to do anything, but wouldn’t let him complain later if he wouldn’t stop him now.

“I’ve no reason to be scared of you.” Kentaro replied with a brief smile, putting his arms around Nikaido’s neck to pull him down for a kiss. Their kiss was longing and everything else than careful and they refused to back off even as they obviously needed some space for air. Kentaro let out an annoyed groan and closed his arms even tighter around Nikaido's neck as he tried to back off.

“You are a little bit too clingy you know that?” Nikaido said teasing before he leant down for another short, but passionate kiss before Kentaro was willing to let go off him.

“That’s your own fault, I can never be sure when you will just ignore me again.”

“Yeah sure, as if I would just stand up now and leave the room. That would be a punishment for me as well!”

“Then just get back down here!” Kentaro demanded, pulling on his arms even though he knew that he wouldn’t be able to move him in any direction.

“I thought you wanted to take it further than just kisses today!?”

Nikaido’s voice sounded challenging and again Kentaro cursed himself as he froze the moment Nikaido stroke over his hips. He didn’t want to feel scared and he knew that there was not a single reason for it. When there was no way to erase the past he would just create a stronger memory to finally shut it out of his head. Nikaido waited for a moment sympathizing with his struggling. Once more he leant forward stroking the boy’s hair out of his face to kiss him on the forehead.

“Do you trust me?”

Again Kentaro just nodded as an answer and he gained a chuckle in reply as Nikaido sat up again with a kind of weird expression on his face.

“What is it?”

“You know I ask you stuff like if you trust me and I just realized that you maybe shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

If Nikaido’s expression wouldn’t look kind of funny he would be worried about what he had said.

“I never did this before. I mean with a man.”

Kentaro blinked a few times before he finally got what he meant and before he could stop himself he started laughing so loud that his throat started to hurt from the injury. Something told him that maybe this was not what he actually wanted to say as he said he shouldn’t trust him, but it was the first time that he saw such a weird expression on Nikaido’s face that he didn’t want to read between the lines, at least not for tonight.

“Sorry.” Kentaro tried to stop himself from laughing as Nikaido’s eyes threw daggers at him. “I just didn’t expect you to say something like this.”

“Oh so you thought I am doing this all the time?”

“No! I mean that you worry about it.” Kentaro sat up reaching out for Nikaido’s cheek with one hand. “As I said, I trust you! I know that this is new for both of us, but don’t worry about it.”

“That is easily said, you don’t have to worry about hurting me.”

“And you won’t hurt me either!”

Nikaido wanted to look away, but Kentaro put his other hand on his face as well to lift his head upwards again.

“Where is your straight forward and confident attitude in a moment when you really need it?”

“Let’s say I figured out that it wouldn’t fit our relationship. I screwed up a lot because of it before.” Nikaido said guilty remembering how he had trampled on Kentaro’s feelings a lot because of his cold attitude.

“I’m not saying that you should return to that, but you know, if I tell you that I trust you then it means I know that you can handle this situation and I also know that you will need exactly this attitude for it, at least a little bit of it. And I’m getting cold so you have two choices: Just do it or get off my bed so I can get my blanket.”

Kentaro leant back again pulling on the blanket they sat on and finally Nikaido cracked a smile, shaking his head at the boy.

“What?” Kentaro asked amused, obviously enjoying their conversation.

“Just shut up, would you?”

“Give me a reason to do so and I will.”

Nikaido raised an eyebrow on his cocky answer and finally Kentaro could see that he had successfully switched him into the right mood. Nikaido pressed him down on the sheets on his shoulders crushing their lips together. He moved his hands over the boy’s neck up to his hair grabbing it to lift up his head to reach out for his neck with his lips next. Kentaro escaped a low moan as Nikaido bit him on the neck and even though his attitude turned from carrying to longing and rough, all his worries were locked in the back of his head. Now that Nikaido showed him that he could handle this he could finally relax. This time Nikaido didn’t hesitate as he moved his hands down to Kentaro’s crotch and a shiver of pleasure ran down the boy’s back as he suddenly touched him closing his hand around him. Kentaro put his hands into the latter’s hair, pulling on it gentle to get his lips from his neck back to his own lips and Nikaido followed his movements willingly. Nikaido licked over his lips demanding access and as he stroke over him at the same moment he wouldn’t be able to refuse anyways. After a few more minutes of kissing and touching they parted again so that they could finally breathe a little bit, but Kentaro kept him close their lips still touching.

“Nika, please!” He almost whimpered into his mouth.

“Nika? We have to do something about your choice of nicknames later.”

Kentaro hit him on the back of his head making Nikaido chuckle before he let the topic drop for now and moved his hand down between the boy’s legs. Kentaro flinched as Nikaido put one finger inside without any kind of warning. As he inserted a second finger Kentaro bit his lip trying to hide the groan he was about to let out. He also had to watch out that he wouldn’t clench his fists the whole time, because his hands were still hurting and another type of pain wasn’t the distraction he needed now. But of course Nikaido could see that it was unpleasant and he tried to distract him with his other hand touching over his stomach while kissing over his neck. Luckily it really helped him to relax and he moved his hands over Nikaido’s back moaning into his ear as he finally got used to it.  Nikaido stretched him carefully waiting until he had relaxed a little bit more before inserting a third finger. Kentaro dug his nails into Nikaido’s back for a moment, but this time he got used to it faster and soon he automatically moved his hips against his fingers. Nikaido tried to stay as close as possible as he removed his fingers and lifted Kentaro’s hips up a little bit. Kentaro didn’t try to kiss him this time and even though they were so close, this time he just looked at him with his hands around his neck. The moment Nikaido finally pushed in the boy threw his head back trying to slow down his breathing. It wasn’t as painful as he had expected, but he knew that Nikaido was moving carefully and that it would be different when he would start moving faster.

“You’re alright?” Nikaido asked stroking over the boy’s hair after he had entered him completely. Kentaro nodded before pulling him down for another kiss. Nikaido couldn’t stop from moving anymore as Kentaro rolled his hips against his and even though he knew that he should be a little bit more careful he soon started to move faster making Kentaro break their kiss closing his eyes. He grabbed the sheets for a moment and his expression showed that he tried hard to relax. Nikaido kept touching him to distract him and when Kentaro suddenly let out a way too pleasured moan he knew that he was allowed to move more again. He tried to hit the same spot again and soon Kentaro turned into a moaning mess stuck between the need of air and his craving to kiss Nikaido without a break. Kentaro moved his hands down his own body signalizing the latter that he was close. Nikaido stroked over his full length firmly  and Kentaro came first with a low moan grabbing the the sheets and closing his eyes. Nikaido sat up a little bit to be able to lift the boy’s hips up more to be able to move even deeper. It took him just a few more thrusts before he followed as well closing his eyes on the wave of pleasure filling his body before he let himself drop next to Kentaro. He stroke over the boy’s forehead right away and Kentaro couldn’t hide a brief smile as he saw that Nikaido’s eyes still showed a little bit of worry even though it had been okay.

“I hope you feel like resting now.”

“What if I said no?”

“I would love to say that we would continue like this until you are finally getting tired, but-“ Nikaido grabbed Kentaro and pulled him against his chest making the boy squeal on the sudden grip around him. “But I am tired so if you won’t rest on your own I will make you.”

Kentaro couldn’t see Nikaido’s face, because he rested his chin on the boy’s hair still not letting go of him, but Kentaro could feel his chuckles through the movements of his body.

“As long as you promise not to suffocate me tonight, I promise to rest.” Kentaro replied chuckling.

Nikaido loosened his grip and moved down a little bit so that his face was in front of Kentaro’s before he took the boy’s chin in one hand, smiling at him.

“As long as you don’t kick in your sleep, I won’t do you any harm.”

“Oh that’s so sweet of you.”

They both had to laugh on their weird conversation, but then Nikaido pulled him into one last kiss making Kentaro melt away again and making it hard for him to not reach out for him again, knowing that Nikaido would stop him so he would finally rest. So in the end he rested his head against Nikaido’s shoulder as the latter threw the blanket over both of them kissing him one last time on the hair before they both drifted off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the late 1940s, after the war Yasui Kentaro found himself in one of Tokyo's underground fight clubs. Beside his lack of fighting experience, he also had to find out who was friend or foe in his own club. But even though Nikaido seemed to be bad company from the first moment there was something about him drawing his interest. But this new world he had entered had strict rules and he was sure that his interest in Nikaido would get him into trouble sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is set in the late 1940s and yes I made a few american soldiers the absolute bad guys in this one. Please don't take it as a historic correct story! I just needed some bad guys, I don't want any war discussions here, please. I also made a few JEs to bad guys and yes I know they are out of character, but I needed them this way sorry ;)
> 
> Please note that the relationship between Ueda Tatsuya/Kyomoto Taiga isn't based on sexual interest, but on a protective base (at least in the beginning and one sided), changes follow in part 2!
> 
> Anyways have fun reading, but be prepared for spelling mistakes!

 

 

“Taiga what the hell are you doing here, go back to the med room!”

“I’m fine, the doc said I can at least walk around a little bit.”

“I don’t care, you still look like shit you should go back!”

“Oh thanks for that nice comment!”

Juri tried to push Taiga out the training room again without success, while Kochi stood next to them shaking his head.

“Since when did they become best buddies?” Fuma asked Kentaro curious, watching the scene from the other side of the room.

“Let’s say they had a long conversation after Taiga had woken up again.”

One week had passed since the tournament and slowly everything turned back to the normal routine. Sure Fuma would still take some time to get over the loss of his friend, but not just Kentaro but also the others were there for him. Taiga was finally allowed to at least move around a little bit, but he was still looking really pale (okay more than usual) and Kentaro could understand that Juri wanted him to lie down again.

“Everyone, listen up!” Ueda stepped into the room looking at Taiga for a brief moment with a judging gaze signalizing the younger one that he was obviously as angry as Juri about him running around. But instead of scolding him he turned back to the others waiting for them to gather.

“For all those who were in the last tournament, you will continue your training as usual. Nikaido will be in charge of it for the next days. For the other ones there is another small tournament in which Nakai would like to test you, because most of you didn’t fight in the big tournaments until now. We will leave in two days and come back the day after. That’s all.”

Ueda turned to leave, but as he opened the door he stepped to the side as if he was waiting for something. As nothing happened he sighed, turning around again. “Do I really have to drag you back or are you coming on your own?”

Kentaro escaped a low chuckle as he of course knew who he talked to and Taiga had gotten the message as well as he slowly walked over to the door. The moment Taiga stepped next to Ueda, the older one put his arm around Taiga’s hips grabbing his belt on one side making him freeze for a moment and everyone stare at them even though most of them pretended to be busy with their training again.

“You can pretend as much as you want that it doesn’t hurt, but I’m not blind.”

Kentaro smiled as Taiga blushed embarrassed before he put his arm around Ueda’s shoulder obviously happy about a little bit support while walking. If someone would realize something like this it was definitely Ueda, Taiga would never be able to hide something from him.

“So we have to take good care of Taiga for the next two days.” Nikaido said as he stepped next to Kentaro.

“And of ourselves as well! Especially when you are the trainer, I hope I’m still alive after those two days.” Kentaro replied with a lopsided smile, gaining a slap on the back of his head before Nikaido sent him into the ring for a sparing fight with Tegoshi.

Since their first night which they had spent together their personal contact was limited to their private training and payment again. So he couldn’t wait for tomorrow night to come knowing that Nikaido wouldn’t ignore this chance when Nakai and so many others weren’t around.

***

The next morning they left early and Nikaido wasted no time to start their training. Of course he knew best about Kentaro’s strengths and weaknesses, so his training was more than tough. But he wasn’t really considerate with everyone else’s training either. Everyone was more than happy as the first part of the training was over and they finally got a break.

“Taiga, what are you doing here?” Nikaido asked scolding as Taiga sneaked into the room as the others sat down in the warming up area to take a break.

“Oh come on. I’m going crazy inside the med room!”

“Also true! But as soon as you feel bad you are telling me okay?” Nikaido pointed towards the stool next to the door and Taiga nodded with a smile before sitting down.

“For how long do you want to sit around there? Next round!” Nikaido shouted over to the others, most of them lying flat on the mat still breathing hard.

“Nikaido, where the hell do you get that energy from?” Tegoshi asked impressed. It wasn’t like he was just giving the training looking at everyone, he was also training himself.

“I wonder as well. I can’t believe that there was a time when I was stronger than you.” Senga admitted before dropping flat on the mat.

“Maybe he has some extra motivation for later!?” Tegoshi asked hitting Kentaro lightly with his elbow.

“Shut up!” Kentaro and Nikaido said at the same time making everyone laugh. Having just their friends around was a nice change to the normal training in which they had to watch out so much for their behavior.

“Okay, then everyone get up! We will con-“

On the sound of the door Nikaido turned around and it didn’t took everyone else longer than a second to be on their feet as they realized who had just stepped inside the room.

Tamamori, Jesse, Iwamoto and Shigeoka stopped next to the entrance looking at Nikaido in amusement as he stared at them in disbelieve. Kentaro’s eyes fell on Taiga, which was still sitting just a few meters away from the door and had frozen to the spot right away.

“What are you doing here?” Nikaido asked in a dangerous voice.

“Oh can’t we just come by and say hello?” Tamamori asked.

“Without Shingo and Nishikido? And also without our boss knowing? No you can’t, so how about you leave again?” Even though Nikaido had automatically stepped between them and his own fighters Kentaro could hear in his voice that he wasn’t as calm as he pretended to be. Sure they were in superior number, but after what had happened at the tournament Kentaro knew that they didn’t just came for a short greeting.

“Oh don’t be like that. What kind of hospitality is this?” Iwamoto asked mocking and Kochi grabbed Fuma’s arm the moment he realized that the boy was about to step forward.

“Don’t get provoked, that is exactly what they want!” Tegoshi warned them all.

“Don’t you want to get Nakai and Ueda to greet us? Oh wait, they don’t seem to be here, right?” Tamamori asked with a lopsided smile.

“As if you wouldn’t have known that!” Senga growled in a low voice biting his lip to shut himself up as Nikaido turned his head towards him with a warning glare.

“So if you have realized that, then I would like to ask you to leave!” Nikaido took a few steps forward standing in the middle of the room now, but the east club members didn't seem to have any intentions to follow his request.

“You know I would like to do that, but I’m not taking orders from someone like you!”

“Someone like me?” Nikaido clenched his fists trying to keep calm, but Tamamori’s attitude made him freak way too easily.

“We have rules in the clubs and I bet you are aware of all of them, but if you break them you should get punished, don’t you agree?”

Nikaido didn’t answer, instead he looked at the other fighters of the east club and he could see that they were all aware of what Tamamori was talking about, so he hadn’t said something at the tournament to be able to punish him without the rules of the club.

“I don’t know how this is working at your club, but ours is no place for street justice!” Senga shouted taking a step forward, but Tegoshi stopped him before he could lose his temper. Kochi had his hands full with Fuma and Juri already, but Kentaro had frozen to the spot the moment he realized what Tamamori was talking about.

“Yeah you seem to care for no rules at all in your club!”

“Cut the crap Tamamori! This has nothing to do with you.” Nikaido interfered before Tamamori would make Senga freak. If they would start a fight now, they would be the ones at fault and that would be even more satisfying for the east club members and Nikaido wouldn’t do them that favor. But all Tamamori did was forming a lopsided smile before nodding towards Jesse and Shigeoka, but as the others got what was going on it was already too late.

 “TAIGA!” Kentaro had shouted out for him first, but he knew that he wouldn’t be fast enough to stop them. Taiga tried to get away, but his wound wouldn’t make it possible for him to be faster than them and so they got a grip on him without any problems dragging him back towards the door.

“Let go!” Taiga tried to fight them off, but his face was twisted in pain as his wound was making it impossible for him to fight back. Nikaido had rushed forward as well the moment they got Taiga, but Tamamori blocked his way.

“Stop this nonsense!” Nikaido shouted, clenching his hands into the latter’s collar almost lifting him up, but Tamamori didn’t even make a move to defend himself. It was obvious that he was aware of their advantage now that they had a hostage.

“Would you be so nice and let go of me?” Tamamori asked in such a played friendly voice that Nikaido would have loved to rip his satisfied smile off his face, but for a moment he didn’t move.

“I hate it to repeat myself!” Tamamori said with a warning glare and as he lifted his hand Shigeoka drew out a knife pointing it at Taiga’s throat. That was when Nikaido finally stepped back, cursing in a low voice with his eyes moving panicked from Tamamori to Taiga.

“This is going too far!” Tegoshi shouted obviously losing his calm as well as he didn’t even try to hold Senga back as he made a step forward while Juri was about to push Kochi out of his way.

 “EVERYONE STOP!” Nikaido shouted at his own club members knowing that they risked Taiga’s life, if they would just attack like this. “Stay back! This has nothing to do with you, so don’t interfere.”

“Oh how cute, at least you take the responsibility for your mistakes.” Tamamori said, clapping his hands. He moved around him, first looking at the other fighters with a triumphing smile before turning back to Nikaido putting his arms over his shoulder from behind. “I hope that also means that you are taking your punishment with the same attitude!”

Nikaido growled dangerously and clenched his fists so hard that they started shaking, but he knew that he could do nothing as long as they had Taiga.

“So how about you are just staying here while I talk a little bit to your little friend?” Tamamori suggested with a low chuckle as he turned around and pointed at Kentaro who turned pale as he met Tamamori’s eyes.

“Leave him out of this! If you want to punish someone, because of your twisted view of things, I’m all yours, but leave him out of your stupid self judgement.”

Suddenly Tamamori’s playful look fell and he stepped closer to Nikaido again. Without another word he punched him in the face and of course Nikaido wouldn’t dare to block.

“As if I would take orders from you!” Tamamori hissed at him before giving Iwamoto a signal to get Kentaro. Before Nikaido could stop himself he had jumped in front of Iwamoto trying to stop him. But the next thing that was heard was Taiga’s scream making Nikaido regret his rushed action right away. Shigeoka had sliced with the knife over the boy’s neck making it more than clear that they were not bluffing. The next attack came from Tamamori and even though Nikaido saw the kick coming he didn’t move. The kick crushed him directly into the ground and even though he tried to get up again he couldn’t as everything was spinning around him, but that didn#t stop Tamamori from attacking him again.

“No, please stop it!” Seeing how Nikaido didn’t even protect himself from Tamamori’s attacks Kentaro finally interfered. Now Kochi had to try to hold him back as well, but to his luck Juri and Fuma had finally gotten that they would make things even worse if they lost it now. So now they all tried to stop Kentaro from doing something stupid, but now that Tamamori had the upper hand and Nikaido didn’t allow himself to fight back, they couldn’t really do anything to turn around the situation anymore. Kentaro looked at them in shock as Tamamori wouldn’t let off Nikaido even though he was already unable to get back on his feet again. But then finally Tamamori stopped for a moment looking down at Nikaido with a satisfied smile. But then he turned to face Kentaro again, stretching out his arm and waving him towards him.

“Boy would you mind coming over to us?” Tamamori asked with a smile, but Nikaido grabbed his leg, making him look back at him.

“Don’t drag him into this!”

“Oh it’s not me who dragged him into this, but you!” Tamamori looked at Kentaro again and signalized Iwamoto to get him as he wouldn’t come voluntarily of course.

“Out of my way!” Iwamoto demanded in a dangerous voice, as he stopped in front of Fuma who had more than enough reasons to attack him, but he wouldn't risk the life of another friend to take revenge, so in the end he stepped to the side cursing in a low voice. Juri and Kochi were still standing in front of Kentaro and Iwamoto was impateintly waiting for the two boys to move, but as they didn’t obey he turned towards Jesse and Shigeoka and the next moment Taiga screamed out again as Jesse punched him on his wound making him almost drop to his knees afterwards. That was when Kentaro demanded his legs to move forward instead of backwards and even though everyone looked at him worried they knew that they couldn’t stop him as he pushed Juri and Kochi out of his way and stepped in front of Iwamoto, who grabbed him by the hair without any kind of hesitation and dragged him over to Tamamori who was still busy with stopping Nikaido from getting up again, but it was obvious that even if Nikaido would get a chance to turn the tables he couldn’t win this fight alone anymore.  

“Then let’s see what is so special about you that you turned one of my most favorite opponents into the disgrace of the fight clubs!” Tamamori said in a played hurt voice as he stepped in front of Kentaro, who didn’t want to face him and looked at Nikaido instead, which gave him a worried look in return, but he was already too hurt to be of any effective help and of course Kentaro was aware of that, but he couldn’t really do anything himself as long as Taiga was also in danger. Kentaro let out a small scream as Tamamori suddenly grabbed him by the throat with so much force that it cut his breath for a moment.

“Look at me boy!” His voice was dangerous and Kentaro knew that refusing would put everyone else in danger, but even though he raised his head up to face him he couldn’t stop his eyes from glaring at him with a hateful expression. “Oh I see, I might understand why he got interested in you in the first place!” Tamamori said chuckling turning towards Nikaido for a moment. “He has something interesting in his eyes, I guess that he is quite entertaining.” Tamamori grabbed Kentaro’s hair with his free hand forcing his head back before stepping even closer.

“Leave him alone!” Nikaido hissed trying to get up again, but Iwamoto was faster stepping on his back to push him down.

“Let’s see if I can figure out how you put Nikaido up to do something he knows is forbidden.”

Kentaro realized right away what he was about to do as he moved his other hand to his hair as well holding his head in place, but even though he tried to push him away and turn his face away the latter’s grip was too strong and he also knew that if he would try to seriously fight him off Taiga and Nikaido would be the ones who would suffer because of him.  So in the end he gave up as Tamamori had pushed him against the wall so he would stop struggling and turned his face back to force a kiss on him. He closed his eyes clenching his fists into the fabric of Tamamori’s shirt, waiting for him to back off and luckily he didn’t have to wait long.

“Mhh, wasn’t as special as I thought it would be!” Tamamori said in a disappointed voice.

“Was that really necessary?” Iwamoto asked, looking at them kind of disgusted.

“I just wanted to find an explanation, but I guess they are both just weird that’s all.” Tamamori dragged Kentaro away from the wall and pushed him with so much force that he landed on his knees in front of Iwamoto who had walked over to them. Tamamori stepped back and signalized Iwamoto that the boy was all his. Kentaro looked over to Taiga, but Tamamori was standing in between him and them, so he couldn’t try to help him even though he was so close.

“WATCH OUT!” It was Nikaido’s voice which finally made Kentaro spend attention to his own situation again and just in time he got his arms up to block Iwamoto’s first kick, but the force crushed him into the ground nevertheless. Before he could even get his orientation back Iwamoto had lifted him up, punching him so hard that he crushed against the wall sliding to the ground.

“THAT’S ENOUGH, ISN’T IT?” Senga shouted as Iwamoto was about to lift Kentaro up again. All the other fighters had frozen to the spot and even though Senga also didn’t dare to attack he could at least try to talk them back to their senses, if they would still have some that was.

“Oh we have just begun!” Tamamori explained laughing while Iwamoto pulled Kentaro to his feet again, but before he could lunge out for another punch Nikaido had suddenly reached out for him pushing him away and stepping in front of Kentaro even though it was hard for him to even keep his balance.

“What a surprise. There I’m not spending attention for a minute and you get back on your feet! That’s what I like about you so much, you are unpredictable.” Tamamori let out with a sarcastic chuckle before attacking Nikaido together with Iwamoto. It didn’t take long until Nikaido found himself on the ground again and as Iwamoto was about to kick him again he turned away his face, but the kick didn’t hit him. As he felt how someone was covering him he looked up again finding Kentaro lying half over him.

“Idiot, get off!” Nikaido yelled at him, but Kentaro shook his head not moving away.

“Oh, how cute!” Tamamori shouted laughing, clapping his hands. “So you want to take your punishment together? Fine with me!”

“Kentaro, get off!” Nikaido tried to push him to the side again, if possible to even switch places with him, but Kentaro wouldn't move away.

Iwamoto and Tamamori stepped up to them again, but the moment they wanted to attack Jesse and Shigeoka screamed out. Senga and the others had already seen what was happening, because they were facing the door, while Tamamori and Iwamoto didn’t. So before the two were even able to look at what was happening, Senga and Fuma jumped at them to throw them to the ground.

“Sorry for being late!”

On the sound of a familiar voice Kentaro lifted himself up to look behind him. Jesse and Shigeoka were lying on the ground coughing and Ueda stood behind them holding Taiga in his arms. And if that wouldn’t have been confusing enough the next person who appeared in the doorframe made it impossible to find an explanation for what was going on anymore, as no other than Nishikido stepped in followed by Nakai and Shingo.

“What is going on?” Kentaro asked Juri who helped him up, while Kochi and Tegoshi stabilized Nikaido, but his friend just shrug his shoulders looking as confused as him about the whole situation. Nishikido stepped forward signalizing Fuma and Senga to let go of his fighters. Unwillingly they stepped back, waiting for Tamamori and Iwamoto to get up again. But before they could even think about a possible apology Nishikido had punched them both so hard that they had landed back on the floor.

“Get those two idiots over there and get back to our club!” Nishikido commanded as he pointed towards Shigeoka and Jesse who were still not back on their feet. “And because it seems that you like punishments so much I will think of yours as soon as we are back.” If looks could kill, all of Nishikido’s fighters would have been dead in an instant Kentaro was sure of that. Without another word Tamamori and Iwamoto got up to carry Shigeoka and Jesse out the room. Tamamori shot a last angry glare at Nikaido and Kentaro, but as he looked at Shingo his look changed. The calm expression Shingo was normally showing was completely gone and Kentaro didn't even want to think about what kind of punishment they would have to face later. Nishikido followed his fighters, but stopped next to Ueda for a brief moment looking at Taiga, who rested in his arms with his eyes closed, on the verge of fainting. 

As Nishikido suddenly bowed towards Ueda, Kentaro automatically held his breath looking at Juri in confusion, but the boy just looked as stunned as him. Shingo also bowed towards Ueda and Nakai once before he left the room without another word and a weird silence followed.

“Would someone explain to me, what the hell just happened?” Fuma asked thinking that he would be the only one who didn’t get it. But everyone looked at Nakai and Ueda curious about their explanation.

 “I know you must be confused and you will be angry as well, but without proof and people to testify you can’t accuse anyone and I’m extremely sorry that I turned you into the proof I needed.” Nakai had stepped in front of them and left everyone speechless as he bowed towards them. “I guess you all have sensed at the last tournament that those four were dangerous and even though I am not around like Ueda all the time I know you all quite well believe me.” His look fell on Kentaro for a moment before he continued. “I had a talk with Shingo after the tournament and as I had already thought he shared the same worries as I did, but it is his own club, his own people, so of course he wanted to believe in them, so I spoke to Ueda and we decided to spread a rumor about us going to a tournament and leaving you behind.”

“So you knew that they would attack us?” Senga asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Of course I hoped my guess was wrong, but when we met with Shingo and Nishikido they told us that Tamamori and the others had sneaked out as the rumors about us not being at the club at the moment had spread. Like this we got the proof we needed and I hope you understand that Shingo and Nishikido are not at fault for their fighters’ actions. All clubs have to deal with some black sheep from time to time.” But then Nakai’s serious face fell and he bowed toward everyone again. “I am sorry that I put you all in so much danger, but I hope you understand that it was necessary to deal with them now instead of waiting for the situation to escalate sometime in the future.” Nakai turned to leave and stopped next to Ueda to stroke over Taiga’s hair once with an apologizing look before squeezing the trainer’s shoulder with a faint smile on his lips.

“Oh and Nikaido! Kentaro!” Nakai addressed them suddenly as he turned around in the doorframe once more. “I had a talk with Shingo on the way here and we are the same opinion about one point: Rules are made to be able to get changed!” He gave them a bright knowing smile before he left the room and a lot of stunned people behind.

“I’m still not sure if I got what just happened!” Fuma admitted looking at everyone confused, getting a pat on the shoulder from a smiling Senga as a response.

“Don’t worry Fuma, as long as those two get it, everything is fine!” Senga pointed at Nikaido and Kentaro which looked at each other kind of shocked, but also completely confused making the others laugh.

“For now it might be better to bring you to the med room! The doc will have a lot of work today!” Tegoshi said as he and Kochi helped Nikaido towards the door.

“And this time you are staying inside there. If necessary I will tie you to the bed.” Ueda scolded Taiga, which just gave him an annoyed grown as a reply. They left for the med room first knowing that Taiga’s condition could get even worse the longer they waited. Kentaro tried to convince himself that everyone would be okay and that something like this would never happen again, but seeing how easily everything had escalated through just one broken rule, he wasn’t so sure if they could go on without any new problems showing up their way. But they all made it so far together and even though Kentaro was aware of the fact that he could lose all of them as they had lost Hokuto, he was more than thankful to have found a new place he could call home. A dangerous and messed up place indeed, but also a place full of interesting and brave people. He didn’t regret the path he had chosen and as they finally reached the med room and Senga helped Nikaido to sit on the bed on the opposite side he had to smile as he remembered everything they had to go through to finally accept what they felt for each other.

The doc was already treating Taiga’s wound and the others were already getting some medication and supplies for Nikaido’s and Kentaro’s treatment as well. But for the whole time Kentaro couldn’t take his eyes off Nikaido and of course the latter had noticed. Senga wanted to treat Nikaido’s injuries, but he got up instead walking through the room even though Senga scolded him and wanted him to sit down again. But he stopped in front of Kentaro and even though everyone was staring at them he leant down taking his face into his hands.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened! I’m sorry for not being able to protect you all the time!”

Kentaro shook his head slowly, putting his hands on Nikaido’s, but as he wanted to reply something Nikaido leant down to kiss him.

“Now I get what is going on!” Fuma announced proudly, snapping his fingers before getting a slap on the back of his head from Tegoshi and Senga at the same time.

“Are you serious?” Senga asked him, shaking his head.

“I told you that he wouldn’t see the demolition ball until it hit him in the face!” Tegoshi said laughing.

Kentaro tried to shut their voices out and ignore their eyes on them for now. He put his arms around Nikaido’s neck not willing to let him back off. Just for a moment longer he wanted to remain like this, forgetting all the burdens and passed happenings before he had to land back into reality. But this time he would face it straight on, not running away anymore and never giving up on the chance to build his new life here with Nikaido watching over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, so we finally reached the end of part 1 of Tokyo fight club chronicles!  
> I hope you enjoyed reading!  
> Stay put for part 2 "underground"! There will be some realtionship developments, new pairings/characters and of course a lot of chaos (maybe a little bit too much, sorry XD)


End file.
